A week back, Twitter was abuzz with a rumour that Virat Kohli would be handing over Indian white-ball team captaincy to Rohit Sharma.
I thought it was a rational decision to allow Virat to focus on his batting and let Rohit handle the pressures of multi-lateral international competitions. Much to my dismay, the rumour proved to be just that – a rumour. Virat has now put out an official notice of resignation from the post of India T20 captain with effect after the World cup T20 in UAE.
Reading that news, I felt that it was a ‘nothing’ kind of a decision.
Except for the T20 World Cup, international T20 matches series and matches lack context. These matches are forgotten as soon as they are complete, and no captain has ever come under pressure for losing one or more bilateral T20 series. What does Virat seek to achieve by giving up the least impacting format? Nothing. The reasons for his giving up T20 captaincy seems to point to something else.
Is his captaincy record bad?
As a captain, Virat has outstanding winning numbers in all forms of cricket. He has won over 65 per cent (27 out of 45) of the T20 international matches, 68 per cent (65 out of 95) in ODI cricket and 58 per cent (38 out of 65) of Tests as a captain. These are stellar numbers and see Virat as one of the most successful captains ever in world cricket.
Why, then, is he under pressure to leave the captaincy?
Virat’s dip in form?
It is no secret that Virat has gone without an international century for more than 18 months. His Test average was 19.33 in 2020 and is 29.80 to date in 2021, while in ODIs, he has maintained his high standards with an average of 47.88 in 2020 and 43 in 2021. This could be construed as a fall, given that he averaged in stratospheric levels of 133.56 in 2018 and 59.86 in 2019! In T20, he averaged 36.88 in 2020 and 115.5 in 2021.
If his drop in batting standards is the reason for quitting captaincy, Virat should have left Test captaincy. To be clear, I am not asking for it.
Rohit Sharma’s rise in the team?
Since becoming the leading run-scorer in the 2019 ODI World Cup, Rohit’s stock has grown rapidly in the Indian team. His recent metamorphosis into a successful Test opener has taken his popularity among fans to levels enjoyed only by Virat himself. Is Virat making space for Rohit in the leadership wing as a compromise?
Lack of ICC world trophies?
Finally, this is one area where Virat draws a blank as a captain. As a player, Virat played a crucial role in winning the Champions Trophy final in 2013 and was an important member of the 2011 World Cup-winning team. However, ever since he took over as captain, India has failed to win an ICC trophy.
Despite having a solid team, he has not been able to pull his team across the finishing line. Are those failures due to his lack of captaincy or plain bad luck? I reckon it is a bit of both.
How much pressure is Kohli under right now? (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)
The 2017 Champions Trophy final was one lousy day. India had beaten Pakistan roundly in the group stages. It took a Jasprit Bumrah no-ball, a freak innings from Fakhar Zaman on a flat pitch and a superb opening spell by Mohammad Amir to defeat the Indians. However, the other defeats were tactical mistakes from Kohli as the captain.
Ever since West Indies’ emergence as the T20 superpower in 2012, the game plan for T20 cricket is apparent. Boundary hitting is more critical than strike rotation. But India picked Ajinkya Rahane in the semi-finals to lend solidity to the team. If one reads Cricket 2.0 by Tim Wigmore and Freddie Wilde, the authors point to this as a strategic mistake and one that was made from a lack of understanding of T20 cricket.
Ajinkya scored a close to run-a-ball 45 and India ended with 194 for 2 without fully utilising the batting resources. The team management must be blamed for not understanding what matters in T20 is different from ODI cricket.
Coming to the 2019 World Cup, India looked like the best team in the group stages. However, Virat and the team management let one defeat against England destabilise the plans altogether. Kuldeep Yadav and Yazuvendra Chahal had been the team’s trump cards until that England match, where Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow ripped them apart.
But one team lording over this pair cannot be the reason for not playing them against New Zealand in the semi-finals. The Kiwi batsmen were suspect against spin, and in that Old Trafford match, they never looked to dominate the bowling. India messed up their bowling and batting order completely and destabilised the team during the semi-finals.
All of this could be hindsight speaking, but these changes did reflect the panic that England had set into Virat’s mind.
This lack of a big tournament win is the main reason for Virat’s captaincy coming under pressure.
Upon taking over as the BCCI president, Sourav Ganguly talked about the lack of ICC trophies under Virat’s captaincy and made his concern known publicly. Otherwise, there is no case for Virat to come under pressure if one goes by match statistics.
Having said all this, it begs the question: why is Virat holding on to the ODI captaincy? If anything, it should have been a clean break from white-ball captaincy.
I think Virat has made a pre-emptive move to avoid the BCCI sacking him from the captaincy of both forms of white-ball cricket. I guess the earlier rumour on Twitter was a clever plant to force Virat’s hand.
CricDude
Guest
Nice article and the headline point for me is this "What does Virat seek to achieve by giving up the least impacting format?". I feel he should be giving up captaincy in all 3 formats, alteast 50 and 20 over formats. I feel Virat doesn't have the tactics for shorter formats. His style works for tests coz that format demands more energy and enthusiasm than tactics. Having said that, I also feel he has touched his saturation point in tests as well. There was a time when I wanted him to lead tests much earlier than the time he got. Two things we can't thank him enough - one, the fitness and other, the pace attack in tests - taking them to great heights. Now is the time to take the team one step more and I feel we need a change in the leadership; both captaincy and coaching. I feel if he had continued his association with Kumble, we would have seen better results with Team India and I genuinely believe that. Though Kumble's stint at PK doesn't show the numbers, he is a great tactician. We can't keep away the people with whom we have difference of opinions. We need to keep it constructive and keep going. Virat erred big time there. Coming back to the article, I feel Virat isn't ready to give up control on the team. He wants to run the one-man show, which is so detrimental in a team sport. India anyway doesn't play many T20Is coz BCCI wants a certain value for IPL. So, while giving up T20I captaincy he still gets to hold the major say. For the best interests of the team, Rohit can be handed all 3 formats (atleast 50 and 20 over formats) for the next 3-4 years. Pant has shown lot of maturity but I am not sure if he is ready for the big stage yet; good option though. Rahul has shown calmness while leading but tactically he is similar to Virat; he has to better that; or have a tactical coach like Kumble or Warney or Mahela. In the domestic side, Manish Pandey and Jaydev Unadkat have been the best captains for me in the last few years but they will struggle to find a place in the Indian 11. So, I think Rohit is the best choice for the next 2-4 years. I would have loved Matthew Hayden or Gillespie or Mahela to coach the Indian team (since Kumble is a gone chapter with few players). Ramiz Raja has made the first move to take in Hayden for the Pak team. I hope BCCI ropes in Gillespie or Mahela soon.
La grandeur d'Athéna
Roar Rookie
It seems there were some internal issues too https://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/119068/kohli-stepping-down-a-decision-in-the-offing-for-months
Paul
Roar Guru
I don't think Kohli is a great captain in any format, mostly because his great strength, the passion he brings to the game can also be his greatest weakness. He's also under huge pressure, which isn't help by all the covid restrictions, etc. He was a way better captain in all formats when Dhoni was in the team. The work MS did in the background in a range of ways was enormous, not the least offering Kohli advice, moving the field and helping to keep Virat calmish and focused. In that respect Kohli is a lot like Steve Smith and Michael Clarke in terms of their captaincy. The difference with Smith was, he didn't have a Dhoni whereas Clarke had Brad Haddin.
Tsat
Roar Guru
The expectations of India captains today is very high..Dhoni had the benefit of India not having a cup for couple of decades..so Virat is being measured against difficult standards..India is also not the best T20 team either..WI and England are the pace setters in this form of Cricket..
Arj
Roar Rookie
An interesting final point, but not too relevant in my opinion, because the bulk of Kohli’s poor form has been in test matches. His ODI form, since Dhoni has been gone, has not been at his best, but certainly not bad by a long stretch (883 runs in 17 innings @55.19). In t20I he’s been in good form (896 runs in 22 innings @59.73).
Arj
Roar Rookie
I think the whole mantra about Kohli's ICC tournament record is overblown. He's only had one Champions Trophy and one ODI World Cup. (Dhoni was captain for the 2016 t20 World Cup). In both tournaments India were pretty much cruising until their respective final losses (exceptions of group stage losses to Sri Lanka and England receptively). The only reason why they might be so scrutinised is that both losses were very tragic and emphatic. I don't think Kohli is the only problem; the whole India top order crumbled in both games. This was even after the likes of Dhawan and Rohit were having stellar tournaments. I know Dhoni is a legend, winning one of each ICC tournament as skipper, but in comparison he's had the opportunity of captaining in 6 t20 World Cups, 2 Champions Trophies and 2 ODI World Cups. The notion of Kohli getting removed from white ball captaincy is preposterous, I only believe it could happen is if Kohli himself wants to manage his workload better, which is already underway with his recent announcement. I think he deserves the ODI captaincy till the 2023 World Cup especially because it's at home for India.
Paul
Roar Guru
This is a really interesting take Tsat, though I wonder if there are not a few other factors in play? Kohli as national captain of all three formats would struggle to take off any match. I vaguely recall the commotion and carry on when it was agreed he would not play in Afghanistan's inaugural Test. Hopefully this call means he can be selected for some but not all T20 matches, given he's now only a batsman. You also made the interesting comment "Are those failures due to his lack of captaincy or plain bad luck? I reckon it is a bit of both." I think there's a third factor - the absence of MS Dhoni. Just have Dhoni on the field gave Virat a calm level headed sounding board. Perhaps it's a coincidence Virat's batting has gone off the boil since Dhoni's retirement - but I don't think so.
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
India have won their last seven T20 series under Kohli’s captaincy. Never lost a T20 series in SENA and bar a home series loss to Australia in 2019, I don’t remember India losing another T20 series under him (2 or more matches not one off games. Kohli has carried this Indian T20 side in the last two t20 world cups while the rest including Rohit were bang average. India can win the World Cup but I have a feeling West Indies will defend their crown
La grandeur d'Athéna
Roar Rookie
Just posted this news in another thread. I am no mathematician so will not go into number games. But I would like to ask, the number of games we have won under virat, were they due to his charismatic and tactically masterful captaincy? I would like to make a bold comparison. Ricky Ponting is known to have one of the best, if not the best cricketing record as captain, of all time. We grew up watching him. Was that Australian team great due to Ricky Ponting's captaincy? My answer would be no. I would say MSD was a far better captain than Ricky Ponting. But that Australia team did not really need a captain. It was just a formality for them. Michael Clarke summed it up best in one of his comment after retirement. I believe numbers can deceive big if they are not put into context properly. Great players always did not make best captain. I have found virat's captaincy to be mediocre at best. But that is my opinion. Of course there is a philosophical angle to this argument that captains get the credit as much as he takes the blame. I am not going into that direction. As I have mentioned this marks starting of the transition period that will define our cricket for many years to come. Rohit is a logical choice. I am not sure about fifty over game though. Not because of I like virat's captaincy, but because of the fact that Rohit is thirty four plus. We need to keep in mind that next world cup is coming and it will be here. As much as I am tempted to hear about that move, I am holding back for now.