WATCH: Dinesh Karthik reflects upon Virat Kohli's view on captaincy

The former India wicket-keeper batter, Dinesh Karthik, has dropped a bombshell chat he had with the ex-captain of the national side, Virat Kohli, on how the captaincy developed him in the five-day format. Karthik expressed that the pleasure of the Delhi-born came from leading the national side. He reckoned that the same character matches with Shubman Gill’s maiden series as captain.

Virat Kohli retired from the five-day format this year, just a few weeks before the start of the away England series. He gave up captaincy in January 2023, after allowing Rohit Sharma to take over the role across formats. The latter retired a few days before Kohli hung up his boots. This made way for Gill to start his tenure during the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy as they leveled the series 1-1 during the second Edgbaston fixture.

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You spoke about Virat Kohli. I met him a few days ago, and this talk about captaincy came up. He said, ‘People think, I’m a great Test cricketer. I enjoyed my Test batting, which I did, but the fact is that getting my captaincy was the best thing to happen in my life.’ Why I am saying this is that the same line was used by Shubman Gill.” The renowned commentator said in a Sky Sports podcast at Lord’s.

Watch: Dinesh Karthik reflects on Virat Kohli’s captaincy

Virat has celebrated the fourth-most runs in red-ball history as captain with 5864 runs in just 113 innings at an average of 54.80, thanks to his 20 centuries and 18 half-centuries. Under his tenure between 2014 and 2022, there was hardly any period when he didn’t rescue India from a struggling position. That’s the same scenario with Gill, who increased his average from 35 to 42 as captain.

“He said ‘I used to bat differently, but now that I’ve got captaincy, I almost think this is what my team requires, rather than me wanting to do something individually as a batter.’ I said Wow, this is something for which the world of cricket has to take notice. Here is a man who has the appetite, he’s got the skill, he’s got the technique, but now he’s got the mindset as well. I’m the captain, I’m going to lead from the front, lead off the front foot.” Karthik leaked the conversation with the former RCB captain.

Dinesh Karthik: I met Virat Kohli a few days ago — he said, 'Getting Test captaincy was the best thing to happen to my batting.' pic.twitter.com/8P5sOO0qrn

— Gaurav (@Melbourne__82) July 8, 2025

Gill has so much responsibility on his shoulders. Currently, he has 585 runs in two Tests at an average of 146.25, thanks to two centuries and one double century, becoming the first Test batter to cross 250 and 150 in the same game.