Kohli, India's most pace bowler centric test captain?

[zen]

One aspect of Kohli that I like is his backing of the pace bowlers and therefore creating a fast bowling culture in India. Many may find that Kohli was in the right place at the right time with many quality fast bowlers on scene but as a captain, I believe, that he provided these bowlers with the stage too.  

 

However, was not happy that he opted to play 2 spinners in WTC final: 

 

 

Over a longer period, is Kohli the most pace bowling centric test captain that India has had? 

Edited November 15, 2021 by zen

[cricketfan28]

Pacers did well under him and one of the reason we are doing well in tests in the last 2-3 years. 

[Sean Bradley]

It has to be Ganguly. Ganguly found Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel. Backed Ajit Agarkar to the zilch. Built a core of Fast Bowler's that played for a good decade or so. Who has Kohli found?? Only credit to Kohli has been revival of Ishant Sharmas career under his Captaincy, when Dhoni had almost given up on him. Apart from this Kohli has failed to go out and find a battery of pacers on his own. He just utilised what was at his disposal. If he was pace centric he would have played an extra pacer in WTC, he would have replaced Bhuvi with a youngster by now. Kohli is not a thinking captain, he's not Ganguly or some one like an Imran who went out of his way to build a team, or a core of reliable fast bowlers for next decade or so. 

Edited November 16, 2021 by Sean Bradley

[Jay]

Kohli helped shami improve but shami was already good under Dhoni too. 

 

Ishu improved user him.

 

He dint develop any young pacer. It's a myth that he is this bowler friendly captain. 

 

Umesh and shami etc were already beasts in Asia. 

[Vilander]

Kohli is a pace bowlers captain. And he served such an itch that many long time Indian fans had. Damn pace quartet in Tests, multiple sub 25 multiple location specific fast bowlers , unplayable passages sessions, terror in opposition ranks coming into second inning, inability to cope with pace, second string pace attack still too potent unbelievable run. Wins in Aus Eng SA Loved it too much. 

[Vilander]

Small matter of becoming NZ biach and LOI all around chokers but yeah. 

[Mesky99]

13 hours ago, Sean Bradley said:

It has to be Ganguly. Ganguly found Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel. Backed Ajit Agarkar to the zilch. Built a core of Fast Bowler's that played for a good decade or so. Who has Kohli found?? Only credit to Kohli has been revival of Ishant Sharmas career under his Captaincy, when Dhoni had almost given up on him. Apart from this Kohli has failed to go out and find a battery of pacers on his own. He just utilised what was at his disposal. If he was pace centric he would have played an extra pacer in WTC, he would have replaced Bhuvi with a youngster by now. Kohli is not a thinking captain, he's not Ganguly or some one like an Imran who went out of his way to build a team, or a core of reliable fast bowlers for next decade or so. 

Ganguly never found munaf, it was Sachin who saw him in the mrf pace foundation nets and recommended him to join Mumbai's ranji team, later helped his transfer from Baroda to Mumbai and a year later munaf was picked for india under dravid mainly for the hype created around him, his state mate Rakesh Patel was a better bowler. Agarkar was in and out during ganguly reign but yhh Zak and nehra flourished under dada plus Srinath was persuaded by dada to play in the 2003 world cup. Under dravid did we see some real improvements in the pace department.

[kohli]

13 hours ago, Sean Bradley said:

It has to be Ganguly. Ganguly found Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel. Backed Ajit Agarkar to the zilch. Built a core of Fast Bowler's that played for a good decade or so. Who has Kohli found?? Only credit to Kohli has been revival of Ishant Sharmas career under his Captaincy, when Dhoni had almost given up on him. Apart from this Kohli has failed to go out and find a battery of pacers on his own. He just utilised what was at his disposal. If he was pace centric he would have played an extra pacer in WTC, he would have replaced Bhuvi with a youngster by now. Kohli is not a thinking captain, he's not Ganguly or some one like an Imran who went out of his way to build a team, or a core of reliable fast bowlers for next decade or so. 

Kohli found bumrah & siraj.

[ShoonyaSifar]

19 minutes ago, kohli said:

Kohli found bumrah & siraj.

LOL Bumrah was always going to play tests, Kohli or no Kohli.

 

Siraj has kost 2 years of Test cricket due to Kohli. If clown was in Australia, he would have remained in the bench 

[Jay]

31 minutes ago, kohli said:

Kohli found bumrah & siraj.

Lol nope. Ranji found them. A TOURS. 

kphli did * all for them 2. 

 

Also he ruined sainis chances by not picking him when he was in form, Nathu Singh his buddy dint even get picked before injuries, prasidh is yet to make a debut in tests which is his speciality. 

 

 

[prudent_kreeda]

when we say a captain found someone ... 

Case should be that Captain intervenes and insists a particular player to be included in the team just on potential and then  nurtures him through with chances .

Picking someone  who has already achieved  international quality is not unearthing a fast bowler.

Re: Great Test pace battery of India now ..  Take out Bumrah , attack potency drops almost 40-50%  .

 

[rkt.india]

When we talk about fast bowler's captain, it doesn't meaning needing to find fast bowlers but handling fast bowlers on the field.

[Jay]

3 hours ago, prudent_kreeda said:

when we say a captain found someone ... 

Case should be that Captain intervenes and insists a particular player to be included in the team just on potential and then  nurtures him through with chances .

Picking someone  who has already achieved  international quality is not unearthing a fast bowler.

Re: Great Test pace battery of India now ..  Take out Bumrah , attack potency drops almost 40-50%  .

 

Uh nope. Umesh siraj shami ishant are all quality and can still dominate. Add shardul. 

 

Every team has one great bowler even the ATG teams had one truly great bowler who elevates their ability. Without mcgrath the great Aussie side were poor too. 

 

But we actually don't necessarily rely on bumrah. Infact in Asia we dont even need him. 

We do need him in Australia and s Africa plus England. However, even in those places we have the ability yo win games thanks to the inclusion of siraj who is just as effective in terms of skills as bumrah. 

[R!TTER]

8 hours ago, rkt.india said:

When we talk about fast bowler's captain, it doesn't meaning needing to find fast bowlers but handling fast bowlers on the field.

Like playing Bhukhe in place of Shami in 2019 WC SF, Bhukhe again vs Pak in this WT20 or should I dig more instances?

[R!TTER]

7 hours ago, Jay said:

Every team has one great bowler even the ATG teams had one truly great bowler who elevates their ability.

Well the Windies had at least 4,  & if rebel tours didn't rob them of some great talent a lot of their backup pacers would've wrecked havoc well into the late 90's 

[Jay]

1 hour ago, R!TTER said:

Well the Windies had at least 4,  & if rebel tours didn't rob them of some great talent a lot of their backup pacers would've wrecked havoc well into the late 90's 

True. Only team to possess such players. True GOaT team. 

[RedFever]

14 hours ago, kohli said:

Kohli found bumrah & siraj.

Kohli found Bumrah ??Come on man, it was Mumbai Indians who found him.

[Pakistan]

Title goes to Dada.

[Adamant]

Ganguly found Zaheer 

Everyday I get to learn something new here, also Ganguly found Pathan. 

As if he was playing gully cricket and Dada picked him up from there. 

[Jay]

6 hours ago, RedFever said:

Kohli found Bumrah ??Come on man, it was Mumbai Indians who found him.

Actually rohit found bumrah while watching some school tournament and even predicted he would become the best bowler in the world.