KOHLI – Look beyond
the demeanor.
Let’s put this in the context of Virat Kohli’s performance
as a test captain.
The Results – Out of the 68 matches in which he has
captained India, we have won 40. Out of these 16 have been overseas victories,
the most by any Indian captain. Also, his win % and no. of wins is the highest
amongst all Indian captains that came before him. We had 4 overseas victories
in a calendar year under Kohli, twice. We have won series in Australia, twice
and once in England. We made it to no. 1 in ICC test rankings and stayed there
for a period of 42 months. Simply put, he has been India’s most successful test
captain by a distance and stands shoulder-to-shoulder with recent greats like
Ponting, Smith, and Waugh, who have comparable stats.
The Method – His publicly documented method of
captaincy focused on 3 things
1.
Developing a pace battery that allowed for
India to win overseas – It is under Virat’s captaincy that we have
cultivated a pace attack with the reputation of being the best in any conditions.
Bumrah debuted in tests under him. Shami and Ishant were unleashed as genuine
pace bowlers. And we developed a pace bench with serious potency – Siraj,
Saini, Thakur, Natarajan.
2.
Peak Fitness as a right-of-entry –
The Indian team is one of the fittest, if not the fittest, outfit. Looking back
a decade, this was almost unimaginable. Every player is a gun fielder. Today a bad
fielder in the Indian dressing room is an exception and not one player looks
unfit.
3.
The aggression of playing to win at all
times – This reflected in the selection of the batting line up. Rohit
coming back and succeeding as an opener. Rahul and Mayank’s aggressive mindset.
Rishabh Pant’s meteoric success as a test bat. Jadeja’s consistent match
winning cameos.
The behavior – Virat Kohli leads with his heart
on his sleeve and with unrelenting aggression through test days. It has boded
well for our results in that the intensity converts into wins. But it has also
resulted into unacceptable behavior, with the recent Dean Elgar LBW being a
prime example. His “brash Delhi ka munda” attitude comes off as unnecessary
aggression, at times. It is important to note that his batting demeanor is at
odds with this – as a batter, he is calm, calculated, almost monk-like.
The reason we struggle to acknowledge Kohli’s undeniable greatness
as a test Captain is because we judge him through the lens of his on-field
behavior as a captain. To some, the aggression is an unacceptable price to pay
for the results he delivers.
However, its important to distinguish between the sheer legend
of his results, the effectiveness of his methods and the occasional
dissatisfaction with his behavior.
Kohli, the captain, has delivered on the promise that many
before him made but couldn’t achieve – of a test team that is expected to win
in any conditions. We start as favorite vs. Australia, in Australia. And I never
thought I would see that in my lifetime.
That is Kohli’s legacy.
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