I know. I know. I know. It’s way too early in the day. He has only been captain for 17 Tests.
He hasn’t captained against England in England, Australia in Australia and South Africa in South Africa.
I know all that.
But I also know from experience that it’s never too early to make a good call. Those good early calls are what legends are made of. They are what separate the men from the boys. They are what reputations are built on.
So humour me as I take you on this journey that straddles the past, the present, and the future, of a man who may just be India’s greatest ever captain.
Rewind two years, to Adelaide, December 2014.
Virat Kohli is captaining India for the first time in place of an injured MS Dhoni.
Australia scores a massive 517 runs, with centuries from Warner, Clarke and Smith. India replies with 444, on the back of a century from Kohli, and half centuries from Vijay, Pujara and Rahane.
Australia declares at 290 for 5. A lead of 363 runs.
The aggressive, brash Virat Kohli of 2014, accepts the Australian challenge, and decides to go after a precious victory against Australia, in Australia.
On the back of a patient 99 from Vijay and a 141 from Kohli himself, India is in sight of a possible win, when with 15 overs and 64 runs to go, Saha gets out, leaving India’s long tail exposed, with Kohli fighting a lone battle at the other end.
The Kohli of 2014, decides to take the fight to Australia instead of buckling down for a well deserved draw, and holes out to Marsh trying a mistimed pull of Nathan Lyon.
India loses the match, and the series 2-0.
Fast forward to Rajkot, November 2016.
In a virtual rerun of the Adelaide Test, England scores 537, India 488. England leaves India a difficult 310 to get from 49 overs.
Kohli is again at the crease, watching the wickets tumble at the other end, but at 71 for 4 in the 23rd over, he decides, this match is not worth losing in going for an improbable win, and buckles down to save the Test.
It is however in a manner totally unlike what an Alastair Cook would have done.
A man used to chasing down totals, Kohli now has a new challenge, and he decides to enjoy himself, while he goes about facing it. With tremendous presence of mind and a sense of humour, he even appeals for a ball from Ansari the left arm spinner to be called a bouncer for the over. Much to everyone’s amusement, the umpire agrees.
With the last few balls to go, and Kohli unbeaten on 49, Cook offers him a draw. Graciously, Kohli accepts.
And unlike what Malcolm Knox in his Sydney Morning Herald column would have us believe, televisions across the subcontinent are not switched off as this absorbing Test match is being played out to its nail biting end.
From Sydney to Singapore to Kolkata, live discussions are buzzing through the social media airwaves and TV sets are unmuted to capture the drama.
This is Test cricket at its best being played out between two very good teams, and two captains eager to prove a point. One playing to save a Test, the other directing his men from short leg, urging them on to take those last few wickets.
A clash of two captains, each unwilling to cede an inch.
So what’s happened with Kohli in these intervening two years?
Well, he has won nine of the 17 Tests he has captained, drawing 6 and losing 2, including the one in Adelaide.
He has taken India from seventh in the ICC rankings to the No. 1 position, in a little more than a year.
But let’s hold our horses, for he has captained in only 17 Tests, compared to India’s three most successful Test captains: MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly and Mohammad Azharuddin, who have a combined 156 Tests under their belts as captain.
He is also far from Ganguly’s record of 11 Test wins outside India. Ganguly remains the only Indian captain with a positive win-loss record away from home.
But Kohli has already won more Tests as captain than Tiger Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid, with far few Tests as captain than any of the named.
That’s a good start.
He is also the first cricketer in Test cricket history to have scored centuries in his first three innings as captain. He is also the first Indian Test captain to score not just one, but two double centuries as captain.
The trajectory Kohli is on as far as captaincy is concerned is certainly an upward sloping one.
He is averaging over 60 in 2016 while leading his team from the front. With nine home Tests to go in the next three months, even five wins will take him to 14 victories and at par with Azharuddin. And that will have been from 26 Tests, still leaving him at a higher than 50 per cent Win ratio, which he currently has today.
Ganguly with 43 per cent and Dhoni with 45 per cent are the only captains with a better Win per cent at that level.
In fact, this is where a comparison of Test captains gets really interesting.
If we look at the records of international captains with more than 25 matches under their belt as captain, there are only 11 who have a Win per cent of 50 or higher.
And none of them are Indian.
Steve Waugh leads the way with an incredible 72 per cent record, followed by Ponting at 62 per cent, Brearley at 58 per cent, and Woodfull, Richards, Shaun Pollock, Taylor, Clarke, Vaughan, Cronje and Ian Chappell.
Interestingly, except Richards, the average tenure of captaincy of each of them was between four and five years.
By this yardstick, Kohli has another three years or so to work his magic, to continue what he is doing, keep learning and improving as he is. With his obsession with fitness, perhaps longer.
He shows all the early signs of being a successful captain in the long run – a razor sharp cricketing brain, a mature head on his shoulders, an attitude that gives no quarters away, and a huge desire to win, every time he walks out to toss.
This is a different Virat Kohli. A mature Virat Kohli.
A captain who is India’s present. And its future.
The aggression still persists, but the brashness is gone. The weight of 1.3 billion people weighs lightly on his broad young shoulders, as he sets out to fulfil their dreams.
And to be the best captain India has ever had.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Indeed Sumon. That's an intriguing thought. What I think he would never do, unlike Bedi, is declare an innings because his players were getting hurt by fast bowling. As I write this I am watching the India v Bangladesh Test at Hyderabad, and Kohli has just sacrificed his wicket and his best batsmen have followed suit in making sure they get the highest lead in the shortest time before they declare and go for a win. That's a reflection of Kohli and the attitude with which he runs the team. And as we have seen in the last few months, he thrives in the responsibility, and his batting record after he took up the mantle, has been simply phenomenal. There is indeed something special in this young man.
Sumon Bhaumik
Guest
Aside from the obvious that to be among the greats a team and its captain have to win abroad, one other thing comes to mind. Winning involves a combination of many things such as skill, experience/maturity and, importantly, self-belief. In that respect, Kohli stands on the shoulders of giants, to use a cliche, who have gradually and painstakingly established India as a cricketing power. Not having seen Wadekar and (much of) Tiger Pataudi, I can't say much about them. But Kapil, Azhar and Saurav surely built (or at least reinforced) the platform that gave India the swagger and the self-belief to take on the best and win, home or abroad. I would always wonder, therefore, as to how things would have turned out if Virat had to lead the Indian team out into Sabina Park, for example, in the early 1980s, with Richards, Marshall, Holding etc waiting to greet them.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
3-0 up going into Chennai and his and the team's remarkable performance in mumbai are all steps in the right direction. He has led from the front in this series and Bowling changes have been well thought out and effective. Hopefully he is slowly getting the doubting thomases over to his side with time and these performances.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
That's my hope as well Tanmoy.
Tanmoy kar
Guest
Virat Kohli is going to be the best captain for India in the long run for sure due to his own ability, aggression, positive thinking and urge to win all matches.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Cook had enough batting and could have opened up earlier and promoted the big hitters if he was serious about having a real go and winning the test. I honestly don't believe he thought he would have India on the ropes and didn't want to take the chance that Kohli would go for it and make it. Hence played safe. So not quite hindsight this one.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
I agree Chinmoy. He is far from being what he can become. The article is just meant to fan the discussion on what we think the future holds. Always a fun activity don't you think?!
Chinmoy Jena
Guest
I agree with most things Anindya but still will hold my judgement back till he wins convincingly abroad.He must build his own trusted and reliable batsmen and bowlers and the team should revolve around them.Ganguly and Dhoni did that and were more successful than their predecessors and I don't see why Kohli should do that.My personal belief is that we do not have any other reliable batsmen than Kohli, Rahane and Pujara and cannot look beyond Ashwin and Jadeja at the moment.He must build his own team and he may become the greatest.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
haha. Australia made the mistake of actually letting them win :)
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Gambhir has now been dropped for all practical purposes. Rahul (the original opener who was injured) has just been inducted into the 16 for the second test and will almost certainly open with Vijay.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Yes England has not been his favourite team. But remember that he played England in India when he was hardly the bowler he is today. And in England. Ashwin is a very smart cookie. Did you see him bowl on the last day of the Rajkot test? He came over the wicket with a completely changed bowling action and bowling line and Cook had absolutely no idea how to play him. Ashwin will be a real factor in the coming tests.
JimmyB
Guest
Think you'll find that it was Rashid who made himself look like a test class bowler, He's learning quickly. I'd be more worried about India's spinners tbh, Ashwin has looked anything but the number 1 bowler in the world, in fact his average against England makes all of England's spinners seem like world beaters.
JimmyB
Guest
Good old hindsight, always 20/20.
JimmyB
Guest
Haha brilliant, the old lull them into a false sense of security trick. I imagine by that way of thinking that Australia have got SA right where they want them.
Amrit
Roar Guru
The only reason you are calling the Rajkot game a litmus test because England posted 537. Who knows it was an internal move to give England some presumable confidence before moving to Hyderabad and the other venues where life would be anything but easy-going for the English top-order
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Naresh - thanks. I shall not disagree on any of your points. Tim Holt actually is of the view that Kohli does not even make the Top 10 list of current test batsmen, so that's another discussion ? But Kohli is work in progress indeed and what I try to throw up with this article is exactly this debate on what it will take to lift him into that elite class of really good and successful captains. I see the building blocks and early promise. And I am calling for that potential to be realised in the coming years.
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Very true Brasstacks. I cannot believe they are struggling against the likes of Moeen. Even the English newspapers appear surprised that the Indian batsmen made Adil Rashid look like a good test class bowler! I am pretty sure Vizag and all the tests that follow will be spinning tracks. It will then be a story of who blinks first between these two batting line ups. (And of course who wins the toss).
Naresh Sadasivan
Guest
Nice one, as always, Anindya. Yes, it is too early to call, and like Tim Holt mentioned, his batting and personal performance should not be confused with captaincy. Captaincy, as we all know is about marshalling his troops well and using them with stinging precision, time and time again, against a variety of oppositions, exposing chinks in their amor, and using his resources to the hilt. On those fronts, Kohli is work-in-progress. Brearley is considered as one of England's greatest captains inspite of his abysmal batting record. On the other hand, Richards or Gavaskar are not ever spoken about in the context of captaincy. While Kohli may well be on his way to greatness, I would look out for the following. A. Building his own men - Saurav did that, Kohli has yet to start; he has inherited most. KL Rahul could be his man to begin with. More slots will open up over the next 2-3 years. 3/10 here B. Aggression and maturity - he has displayed it in ample measure, time will tell how he exploits those strengths. I would put him on a 7/10 here. C. Strategic thinking - He is a WIP here. In this first test against England, I was disappointed that he was not aggressive enough. Ashwin has a poor record against England. He should have been used in bursts. Even team selection could have been slightly modified to go with 3 pacers on a dead wicket, just to keep the spinners as a surprise element for the turning tracks. 5/10 on this count. Sorry, long winded but....
Anindya Dutta
Roar Guru
Thank you so much Kersi! Some day Kohli will prove either Tim or me right. Until then, the debate ensues! And on the declaration, you are absolutely right of course. 10 overs earlier, and notwithstanding Jadeja's heroics and Kohli's grit, India was toast.
Brasstacks
Guest
England would have won had Cook declared 10 overs earlier. The present Indian batsmen are poor against spin bowling. They have been repeatedly exposed as being inept against quality spin bowling for the past 3 or 4 years. Contrast this with the previous generation of Indian batsmen who had Warney and Murali for breakfast and lunch.