Skip to main content

VIRAT KOHLI AND TEST CAPTAINCY



The essence of being a great captain is empowering, motivating and instilling self belief in your team; putting your team first and the self later; building correct team values and working ethics. The captain should firstly work on building stronger individuals who are resilient to man up against adverse match situations. Keeping these points in mind let’s ask our self a question; is Virat Kohli the best man to captain India's test team?
The 26 years old Virat Kohli is no doubt one of the finest batsmen going around and his four centuries in Australia is a testament to his batting credentials. But it is his aggressive, arrogant and self-styled images which may become a hindrance. The in-your-face attitude is fine if used as a strategy in match situations but if the aggression boils over a takes over the emotions you could not only risk losing the match but face the prospects of a dressing down from the match referee along with earning a black mark against your name and the teams.
Let’s look at some of the recent on-field incidents involving Virat; the dip in form on the 2014’s England tour had such an adverse effect that the normally jovial and aggressive Virat was seen quite low and subdue. It’s another matter that Dhoni captained that side otherwise imagine the team looking at him for inspiration and found him fighting his internal demons. And who can forget the Adelaide test when Virat went for the win in the fourth innings, which was commendable but once the danger of losing the test came about he should have shut up shop and played out for a draw. And finally the recently concluded Bangladesh drawn one off test match series also threw up an interesting point when Virat selected five bowlers (three pacers and two spinners). One should commend the positive move but why share the new ball with Ashwin if you have bowlers who can clock 140+ kph. The persistent rains may have played big part in Virat’s decision making but what does it show, Virat’s indecision. If he felt his best bowling combination was three pacer and two spinners then stick with that theory why go back on the decision and especially if you have not used it properly first.
The road of team captaincy is a long and precarious where only the finest survive. The job demands constant appraisal of ideas, unflinching dedication towards team members and 24*7 thinking about ways to improve not only your own game but also help out other members to raise their game also.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

WILL THE REAL CRICKETERS PLEASE STAND UP

“After we finished the West Indies tour and went to South Africa in 2013 that was a challenge. If I am not wrong after that we went to England, New Zealand and Australia and we knew that was going to be a challenge with the big names retiring," Rohit Sharma told reporters before leaving for Sri Lanka. "We played some good cricket in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, so I am sure this unit will do well in Sri Lanka. Our challenge will be to win all the three Test matches there and comeback as champions," Rahane said echoing Rohit’s thoughts. Indian bowling coach Bharat Arun carrying on the team baton stated that speed merchants Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav will take up the challenge to “maintain speed as well as be accurate.” “You don’t come to the ground to draw a match, so you play a brand of cricket where you take the game forward. The role I play is hammering that into their system. We don’t mind losing playing in that fashion. But it is the bra...

AND THE SEMIFINALISTS WILL BE...

What a master class Virat Kohli served-up; the poise in character, the mental toughness and the sheer willingness to fight. That an emotional Virat himself acknowledged and placed the inning, as his top right now. The significant word here is emotional; as he very well knows that the real tournament starts now. As with New Zealand, England and West Indies we have three very dangerous sides very much capable of winning the trophy.  Let’s start with the second semi final between hosts India and West Indies taking place at Mumbai on 31st March 2016, India can ill afford to take their opponents lightly as the shortest format of cricket suits their player’s six hitting capabilities, couple that with the technical know-how of countering Indian slow and low spin friendly pitches which they learned by plying their trade in the IPL (Indian Premier League.) With Chris Gayle’s powerful hitting, Dwayne Bravo’s cutters, Samuel Badree and Suliem...

THE DISPARITY BETWEEN THE DOMINANT BAT AND THE HUMBLE BALL

The International Cricket Council (ICC) must get its act-together otherwise, the game which we love and respect so much starts to lose credibility. One look at the truck loads of runs Virat Kohli and Steve Smith, are piling on, the admirer, the passionate supporter and the fan of cricket in me falls short of words for the praise their feat richly deserves. Virat Kohli’s five double hundreds in a calendar year the highest by any captain and the ease by which Steve Smith keep scoring big and important runs in the ongoing 2017, Ashes (incidentally, at the time of writing this article, the third test at Perth is in progress, and Smith is 200+ not out overnight) compels me think, about the level these two players have already reached, and my mind immediately starts to compare them with game’s best of all time like Sir Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar. I know that it is a folly to compare greats of different generations, as those times were different, so are the present times. My...