Virat Kohli’s major aim was to achieve victory in the Test arena and this is where his passion really shone
Virat Kohli. Pic/Getty Images
This is a tale of two cricket captains; one very good at his job and another who was a failure.
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The successful captain was Virat Kohli of India. When Kohli took over after the successful reign of MS Dhoni, there was one major concern; “Would his boundless enthusiasm cloud his judgement as leader?”
Kohli was an exception as captain; he didn’t curb his enthusiasm, but he was still able to lead the Indian team to a higher level. With the capable assistance of vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, Kohli lifted India to overseas success like no other Indian captain.
His two personal major overseas successes were Australia in 2018-19 and England in 2021. At home he was virtually unbeatable with only a loss to both Australia and England in 31 Tests.
Disappointing SA series loss
Kohli took the legacy of Sourav Ganguly and Dhoni and substantially built on it in seven years at the helm. His biggest disappointment as captain were his final two losses to South Africa after leading the away series 1-nil.
One of Kohli’s great achievements was to instil in his team a craving for Test cricket. Despite his all-encompassing success, Kohli’s major aim was to achieve victory in the Test arena and this is where his passion really shone.
There is no doubt that Kohli drove his men hard, but it’s also apparent that they enjoyed the competition and wanted success. Kohli has a number of individual achievements among his resume, but none bigger than Rishabh Pant as both a wicketkeeper and batsman.
Kohli tended to get his way when it came to selection and some decisions were a little questionable, but there’s no doubting his support of Pant was a master-stroke.
Performance is another indicator in ranking a captain and in Tests Kohli averaged a masterly 54. Kohli also has to be commended for resigning at a time of his choosing.
Former great Australian all-rounder Keith Miller best summed up retirement when he explained; “I wanted to finish while people were asking why did you, rather than why didn’t you?”
Kohli got it right even though he didn’t go out achieving his final ambition.
The captaincy failure, despite having led his country more times than any other Englishman, is Joe Root.
It doesn’t matter what Root or any other English devotee tells you, Joe is a fine batsman, but a poor captain. Root was never going to be a successful leader.
Despite having a reasonably presentable record at home, Root lacked imagination as a captain, quickly ran out of ideas and had little ‘gut’ feel for the game. Too often the bowlers he chose to begin a session were head scratchers, but the real killer was his tactics; they often made no sense.
Root fails as skipper
There is a distinct feeling that Root listened to far too many off-field advisers. However, a good captain has to take charge and this was an area where Root failed dismally. There’s no doubt Root’s last tour was badly hampered by player injuries and he was poorly treated by fate; if Joe hadn’t had bad luck he wouldn’t have had any in Australia.
Nevertheless 10 Tests for eight losses and two unflattering draws fairly sums up Root’s leadership in Australia. It was poor captaincy accompanied by bad luck.
To suggest that the answer to the leadership void is Stuart Broad lacks understanding of cricket captaincy. Apart from Broad’s advanced [cricket] age and articulate off-field responses he’s a negative influence—particularly with field placings—and would be a poor choice as captain.
In press conferences
Root kept saying: “We are going to learn from our mistakes and take the positives out of this match.”
This begged the question; “When are you going to learn?”
England kept making the same mistakes under Root and rarely learnt. Although it will be a difficult task, if England wants to improve, it first has to find a new and capable captain.
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