With the Australia-India Test series remaining surprisingly tight, both sides have given us a glimpse of the future in several ways. Perhaps the most interesting of these is which players will succeed the current skippers.
Michael Clarke’s hamstring woes have presented Steve Smith with an unexpected opportunity to stake his claims to the Australian captaincy, while MS Dhoni’s absence allowed Virat Kohli to lead his country in Adelaide.
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While both men have performed well filling in for the incumbents, only one of them has clearly demonstrated the maturity and restraint required of a captain.
Although Smith and Kohli have been outstanding with the bat, it is Smith’s conduct that sets him apart when assessing leadership ability.
The younger of the two players, Smith has handled the unexpected challenges presented to him with aplomb, showing an impressive capacity to keep his mouth shut at the right times.
Compared to Kohli and his direct competitor to succeed Clarke, David Warner, it is easy to see why the Australian hierarchy are so impressed with Smith’s leadership. While Kohli and Warner seem almost incapable of removing themselves from on-field clashes and chatter, Smith instead lets his bat do the talking.
Diplomacy is a key skill for any leader, and Smith seems to grasp this most readily of the trio. While Warner has certainly matured in the past 18 months, he still lags behind his younger NSW teammate in the captaincy contest.
A bit of banter is to be expected in the heat of battle. That said, if Warner and Kohli wish to remain candidates for future leadership vacancies, they need to pick their moments.
Throughout the coverage of this Test, ABC and Channel Nine commentators have noted the frequent and often unnecessary involvement of both players in clashes between the sides. Kohli in particular seems to involve himself in verbal spats almost compulsively.
Some may consider this a form of defending teammates. This may be true, but it could be done in a subtler, less confrontational manner.
Rather than potentially inflaming conflicts, Kohli could instead seek to remove antagonists from the situation. This would arguably demonstrate far greater leadership and maturity than we have seen from him to date.
In turn, Warner also appears incapable of not biting back when opponents verbally bait him, particularly after being dismissed. The nuggety opener has frequently been shown jabbering away walking off the ground throughout the series.
Contrast this with Smith, who appears more focused on winning matches than talking trash. He is not silent on the field, but is also never at the centre of unnecessary verbal jousting.
Kohli and Warner have been run machines this summer, racking up outstanding performances with the bat throughout the series to date.
However, if they wish to ascend to captain their nations in the future, they should heed the words of the great Elvis Presley – a little less conversation, and a little more action would certainly help their leadership aspirations.
Don Freo
Guest
That's the thing, Praful. Aussies never complain about it.
prafull
Guest
Don Freo i understand what you saying and i believe that culturaly indian cricket is always game of gentlemen where people like sachin tendulkar , rahul dravid and ms doni has always promoted sportman spirit and i take then as ideal heros but at the same time emotional confrontation is almost impossible to avoid in sport because after all sport is directly related to our emotions such as anger and joy. so only thing that we can do is to make sure that we dont hurt each other emotionally or physically ( like australians do in pub or on field yes definitly its for devid warner ) now my point wasn't whether kohali is doing right or wrong of course he crosses line some time we have noted that in ipl or international cricket but when Australians talk about it then i feel it hypocrisy they have been doing this for years and at much worst level . you will find so many evidence that how bad Australians are with sportsman spirit ask any cricketing country and you will realize there image but suddenly when they get test of there own medicine they start crying and for me that's ridiculous they dont have any right to talk about this specially when they have no sportsman spirit in them self right now indian players such as kohali raina dhawan or sharma they are simply saying come on we know you people want it. you doing this from years so lets play game in your way. and again aussi cry
Don Freo
Guest
Praful...I think you have just given an excellent example of poor sledging. It is just too urgent and too disturbed... And not funny enough.
prafull kasture
Guest
hahaha i feel to laugh and feel annoyed when Australians cry about someone being aggressive on field it happen every time when someone give answer to Australian in their own language of slagging they start to cry like baby i dont understand why should kohali calm down i think its working in his favor and i think this whole new Indian team is just like him. they run on aggression so i don't think they have any problem in being aggressive. now the only question is why australian cry when they get answers in there own language. they have been doing this for years and now when it come back to then they seems unhappy about it and same goes with autralian people i didnt seen them criticizing ricky ponting or mathew headon or even symonnd but when its anyone other than auss they cry any way this is answer for you https://cricket.yahoo.com/news/don-t-tell-virat-kohli-to-calm-down-065236293.html and this is Australian reaction in similar situation as kohali https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5iqhesy2Y8 i think kohali has done much better than australian x caption so stop suggesting control aggression to Indians specially i don't think Australian have any moral right to do that
Vikram
Guest
I doughy his place in indian team in away tests you got to be in the team to be a captain
Don Freo
Guest
Ravi Ashwin strikes me as very level headed and very reliable. Could he be an option?
Vikram
Guest
And maybe that was the reason behind draw which should be win by aus easly
Vikram
Guest
Thans for replay i guess aus cricket is in much batter hand than .,,, say Indian one what i ment india dont have any options a part from 'kohli'
Daniel Gray
Roar Guru
He certainly walks the talk, Clark. Definitely not one to shy away from a chinwag out on the ground.
Daniel Gray
Roar Guru
I didn't realise that, Vikram. Our captain did have a bigger role in shaping the team, but then he resigned as a selector. Probably for the best! Thanks for the comment.
Clark
Guest
It seems Kohli is at it all on his own really, and is one of the only ones in the Indian team who's form and talent warrants the right to be a little cocky
Vikram
Guest
There is a big difference, how india and aus. Choose their captain in aus i guess first team then one of them will be captain in ind. First captain then team that mens in india captain has big role in deciding team you can see dhoni's team before that ganguli's team ..... I guess you will find lots of aggressive players in kohli's team if and when he gets his chance. Parden my english
Swampy
Guest
I'm not so sure that's the case - Crash Craddock wrote an article this year where in an interview with Warner, Warner himself said he had leadership aspirations which is where it may have stemmed from. However, Warner has only ever skippered a team once in his entire life - Sydney Thunder (& he scored a ton and they won!). Not even captaining in juniors is a good pointer that perhaps he isn't quite there in the leadership stakes. Basically all our previous captains were skippers at every level they played including Smith. Punter the one exception because he was 14 when he started in grade cricket, 17 when he debuted in shield and the Aussie test team had Waugh and Taylor (2 of our greatest captains ever) ahead of him.
Daniel Gray
Roar Guru
Did CA provide a list of options at any point? Comments from journalists who have more connections at CA than either of us are the only thing we have to go on, and many of them were of the belief that Warner was a candidate.
Daniel Gray
Roar Guru
It's a fine line, isn't it, Simon? I would like to think Kohli and others can assert themselves without always being involved in on-field clashes. Personally, I have more respect for players who know when to remove themselves and others from a situation before it escalates. Banter and baiting are obviously a big part of modern sport, but it would be nice to not see the same few players involved. I know some players thrive on the needling and barbs, but two players having a mostly friendly verbal joust is very different to the spats and clashes I'm referring to.
Daniel Gray
Roar Guru
Hi Vic, I would prefer captains of all teams to focus more of leading their side and tactics to win the game, rather than mouthing off at opponents. This certainly extends to Australian captains, including Waugh and Clarke. One of my least favourite cricketing moments was the sight of Ricky Ponting walking off in the 2005 Ashes and shouting at English coach Duncan Fletcher. What a terrible example to set for the thousands of kids watching. If anything, Smith has been a welcome change as Australian captain, with his bat doing the talking. This was the motivation for my article, as he has provided a very different style of leadership, which contrasts directly with the approach of Warner and Kohli throughout the series. Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment.
Simon Smale
Roar Guru
I do like Smiths conduct personally, his manner appears to be very calming in the field, although he can give it a bit if required when batting which is almost a necessity in the current climate of test match players chatting at each other and trying to rule each other up. Kohli is an interesting one, because as TheTruth said above, Smith has others around him who can use their mouth, while Kohli has to be the one to take on the opposition verbally or else run the risk of being accused of backing down from confrontation and being pushed around by the opposition. He (Kohli) will be a good captain I think, it certainly brought out the best in him in Adelaide in terms of his performance.
Swampy
Guest
Warner was only mentioned by media as a candidate for captaincy - I don't recall anyone at CA mentioning he was under consideration.
Vic
Guest
Daniel, did you also question Clarke or Steve Waugh for their verbal aggression on the field, or does it just bother you if it's the captain of another team being verbal? But I agree, Warner is not captain material
Play the Game
Guest
Kohli and S Smith are the future for their respective countries .However ,Warner as a possible captain can not be taken seriously.