Virat Kohli's Captaincy Should Be Judged After One Full Season: Sunil Gavaskar

Virat Kohli has been in sublime form with the bat in his five Test matches as captain but India have failed to win any of those. Before the Colombo Test against Sri Lanka, India had lost two and drawn two - the two losses coming from seemingly winning positions, causing a few to unfairly start questioning his leadership credentials. (SCORECARD) (BLOG) (REPORT)

However, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar said it was still early days to judge Kohli's abilities as Test skipper and advocated patience. Gavaskar, now a respected television commentator, said any opinion on his captaincy should be formed only after one full season at the helm. (India in Sri Lanka: Amit Mishra Wants Batsmen to set Huge Target)

"Why's everybody so much into Kohli's captaincy? He is just in his fifth Test. He is going to make some mistakes, that is part of the game but he is learning," Gavaskar told NDTV in Colombo after India finished day three of the second Test 157 runs ahead in the second innings. (India in Sri Lanka: Colombo Test day Stats highlights)

"Look at the way Kohli's batting has improved - that's because he is such a committed cricketer. We must give him a lot more time and we can talk about his captaincy after he has been captain for one full season."

But Gavaskar felt Kohli was missing a trick by sticking to his No. 4 position. " I think he should bat up the order at No. 3, followed by Ajinkya Rahane at No. 4 and Rohit Sharma at 5. That will solve everybody's problems."

India will bank on an aggressive Kohli knock on Sunday as they try to force a result at the P. Sara Oval. He has scored four hundreds in his previous four Tests as skipper but losses in Adelaide and Galle and draws in Sydney and Fatullah have soured the wonderful feat to an extent.