Let me get this straight.
For India to win more Tests abroad, the ideal way to proceed would be to sack Virat Kohli, who has won more overseas Tests than any other captain in India’s cricketing history?
Absolutely! It’s the most logical move.
If you don’t strip the captaincy from Kohli, the only Indian captain to win a Test series in Australia, how can the team move forward?
By all measure of rational reasoning, firing the most successful captain India has had in over 89 years is the only way the team can prosper.
Cricket is a sport obsessed with statistics. And here’s the thing about statistics – they are never wrong. They can be misleading at times, but by the very definition of the word, they can’t be wrong.
Here’s a statistic – of all the teams to have ever played Test cricket, only four captains have won more Tests than Virat Kohli – Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh and Clive Lloyd.
Now, just because he’s the most successful Indian captain of all time doesn’t necessarily mean he’s the greatest.
Is Virat Kohli a perfect captain? By no means. He has made selection blunders, he has erred tactically, he has tinkered with his starting eleven a bit too much and he has often let emotions dictate his captaincy.
That last part is key because it is what defines both Kohli the player and Kohli the captain – the desire to win above all costs. And it is ultimately why he has found success as both player and captain.
It is that desire that fueled that fabulous but ultimately futile chase in Adelaide in 2014. In his first match as captain, Kohli showed his team and the world his brand of captaincy – never compromise, never surrender.
As a captain, he leads by example. Another stat – Kohli has scored the most runs and centuries as captain in India’s history.
And he has managed to get the best out of his fast bowlers. India’s current pace battery is the greatest in their history and a lot of that is down to Kohli.
Most crucially, Kohli has managed to instil that “never compromise, never surrender” mentality in his teammates. Kohli asks a lot from his players. Sometimes perhaps too much.
And that is because he is willing to walk through fire to win, and he expects the other ten to do the same.
He’s not the perfect captain. But he’s a mighty successful one. And he’s a great leader.
Because Virat Kohli, the captain of the Indian Test Cricket Team, strikes me as a man who would rather die than surrender.
Thanks for Reading
Picture Source Wikipedia
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