Mumbai: India’s surprised elimination from the World Cup has set the tongues wagging, this time a bit louder and in public, with a suggestion to strip Virat Kohli of the limited-overs captaincy and hand it over to Rohit Sharma.
Not always that the best batsman in a team is the best leader to guide the team. Virat Kohli became the captain of the Indian team in all formats after MS Dhoni relinquished captaincy. However, the leadership qualities of Kohli have often invited criticism.
Captaincy is a cumbersome task as the skipper has to keep all the individuals in the same loop. Indian cricket has seen some of the iconic cricketers leading their team. In this cricket frantic nation, many players have assumed the leadership role at different stages of their career whether it is for a country or a club. Particularly in India, there is a myth of assigning the captaincy role to the best player of the side.
It was Wasim Jaffer who took the courageous decision to go public first. “Is it time to hand over white ball captaincy to Rohit Sharma?,” tweeted Wasim, the former India opener. Jaffer didn’t stop there. “I would like him to lead India in 2023 World Cup,” he declared.
The current benchmark for captaincy in India was set by M.S. Dhoni, who led India to World Cup triumph in 2011. There is a striking similarity between Rohit and Dhoni. And no wonder, the duo are the most successful skipper in the Indian Premier League where the franchisees mean business and expect the team to deliver for the money invested. Dhoni has led CSK to three IPL titles, while Rohit has earned Mumbai Indians four titles.
Virat took over the limited overs captaincy of India in 2017, since then Virat has been able to win only bilateral series. Captaincy is about skills, understanding and gut feeling. Which Kohli clearly lacks. Despite being regarded as one of the best batsmen in the modern-era, Kohli has been unable to win any major multinational trophy as captain. He has also been unable to lead Royal Challengers Bangalore to an IPL Trophy.
Not long ago, former India opener Gautam Gambhir criticised Kohli’s captaincy in the IPL. Gambhir had suggested that Kohli looked good as India captain because of the presence of Dhoni and Rohit. Which was pretty evident when neither Dhoni nor Rohit was there to assist Virat Kohli in New Zealand ODI series India lost 0–3(first ODI whitewash in 31 years), 0–2(First whitewash in NZ tests since 2002). The exact same thing happens in the IPL.
Kohli's tactics as a captain have often been questioned by the greats of the game. Several former cricketers have slammed the current Indian skipper for not backing young players enough. Gambhir has also in the past questioned Kohli's credentials as captain in the Indian Premier League (IPL) where he is yet to win a title with Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Unlike Rohit, Kohli always shows his frustration on the bowlers when they bowl a poor over which can hamper their entire spell. His emotions on the field show his passion for the game, but being the captain of the side he should balance it which will really help his teammates. Sometimes putting a hand on someone’s shoulder who is under pressure can work wonders which Rohit does all the time.
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Virat Kohli in 7 years of IPL captaincy is yet to build a team, the team has couple of core players. Virat has a long history of chopping and changing the squads on a consistent basis. Rohit on the other hand backs his core players and groom them under pressure situations. The Mumbai Indians have a strong core of Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah which Rohit had invested for years and are paying rich dividends.
While captaining Men in Blue Kohli always has MS Dhoni alongside him and that helps him in crunch situations, but in the RCB dugout, he looks like a lost child in desperate times. He is a great leader when things are going perfectly for him, but he is not a tactician who can change the course of a game with his innovative thinking.
Kohli has worked with some of the best cricketing brains in the circuit like Dhoni, Gary Kirsten, and Anil Kumble but has not picked anything from them. On the other side, Rohit has grasped a lot of things from MSD, Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting which has made him a terrific leader. It is necessary to have a good cricketing brain to win titles and that’s why Kohli has a winning percentage of 47 in IPL while Rohit has a win rate of 58%.
Indian Test cricket under Virat Kohli is a force to be reckoned, but all that glitters is not gold. Virat Kohli has the highest loss percentage of tests in SENA countries by any Indian captain.
In the history of IPL smart leaders like Shane Warne, Gilchrist, Dhoni, and Rohit have won IPL titles, but Kohli hasn’t won a single one and that tells a story.
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ReplyDeleteDo you think Dhoni is a fool who had a huge role in making Virat the captain in Limited Overs? Having good captaincy records is one thing, having captaincy skills is another thing, and Virat has both.
ReplyDeleteAre you even yourself sure in what you're saying?
ReplyDeleteOn Virat winning bilateral series, you say that it's because of presence of Rohit and Dhoni, and on Virat not winning ICC events, you say that's because of Kohli being a poor captain.