The most charitable thing that can be said about Virat Kohli’s captaincy is that his current state of mind seems more suited to longer formats. The intensity and energy levels he sustains for longer periods can have an effect on the opposition at times. But when the game is crunched to 20-overs-a-side, and when decision-making is ball by ball, he falters. In some ways, he is the opposite of MS Dhoni, who loves to control all the variables and is at his best in the limited-overs scenario. The more open the game is, the more Dhoni can let things drift. This was evident when he used to lead in Tests. But in the game’s shortest version, he knows how to focus and reel out instinctual decisions on the go. Kohli, not so much.
The most charitable thing that can be said about Virat Kohli’s captaincy is that his current state of mind seems more suited to longer formats. The intensity and energy levels he sustains for longer periods can have an effect on the opposition at times. But when the game is crunched to 20-overs-a-side, and when decision-making is ball by ball, he falters. In some ways, he is the opposite of MS Dhoni, who loves to control all the variables and is at his best in the limited-overs scenario. The more open the game is, the more Dhoni can let things drift. This was evident when he used to lead in Tests. But in the game’s shortest version, he knows how to focus and reel out instinctual decisions on the go. Kohli, not so much.
Before we go on to Kohli, it’s also time to pause and have a look at Gary Kirsten, the coach. Two poor seasons in the IPL with Delhi Daredevils and now Bangalore mean he needs to take as much blame as the captain in some of the baffling team-composition decisions. But as captain of the ship, it will be Kohli who will face the heat.
Perhaps, it comes down to Kohli’s T20 philosophy. Sample a couple of his quotes at the start of this year’s IPL. “You bring enough energy onto the ground, you can win on that day.” Or this: “In T20, it’s anyone’s game at end of the day.” This is what you expect an ordinary fan to say, not a captain, especially after 10 years of competition where it’s clear that teams with good skippers often end up doing well.
He isn’t entirely wrong, but more successful captains use that sentiment as a base-line philosophy to not get overworked in tight situations. However, they do believe that a captain makes a difference with his tactical decisions. With Kohli, because of the results, it seems an excuse.
This year’s IPL, in particular, has been harsh on him. The HD cameras have often swooped down on his face: sullen, angry, lips curling into B-word, arms flailing about, and even if one believes that all this is to be expected in a high-octane format that is T20, sample his own reaction on Sunday night after yet another dispiriting defeat. Unlike in the previous games, he was almost icy cold. A stone-faced voice, barring few empty punches to the air, he wasn’t his animated, emotional self. And later at the post-match ceremony with Ian Bishop, he explained his current state of mind.
“There is nothing more to say to the team. The more we get frustrated, the more the tougher it’s going to get. Personally, I am not trying to control the situation too much. There is a certain extent you can control, which is your own personal skill. Try your best and expect the same from the team. The key is to take it easy, relax. If we stop enjoying, rest of the games will also suffer,” he said.
This wasn’t the first time he is showing such sentiments. In 2013, during another poor IPL season, he had talked about the need to rein in his emotions. “It’s the job of a coach and a captain primarily to keep the team together and I now understand that. If you show panic at the top post, then the guys are obviously gonna scatter around and not play as a unit.” They definitely have scattered around this IPL as well.
Things turned dire in the last game against KKR and Kohli was in his most sullen avatar: cursing and generally carrying on with the air of a man wronged by the world and his team-mates. He had reasons to believe so: catches were repeatedly grassed, bowlers almost bowled against the field, or so it seemed, and everything that could go wrong went wrong. Mohammad Siraj in particular caught Kohli’s ire a lot with his dropped catches and errant bowling. It wasn’t a surprise then that when Siraj was called on to bowl a vital over in the end, he tensed up and sent down a beamer and was out of the game.
So shaken was he that at the end of that game, Kohli said this: “If you can’t defend 75 in the last four overs, then I don’t know if you can defend 100. We just didn’t have composure. We have a bit of chat about what went wrong but apart from that, there’s nothing much you can say. It’s been a disappointing season…the last four overs the way we bowled; we deserve to lose.
It’s been a strange season, not only on the field but the way he has started it. Even before the first match, he sought to talk about how the team didn’t have anything to do with the last year’s popular slogan: “Ee saala cup nammade” (This time, the cup is ours). Unprovoked, he brought up that and dissociated the franchise with the slogan. Never mind the likes of Brendon McCullum to Kohli himself were seen mouthing that line last year.
And just before the first game in Chennai, asked whether he is frustrated that he hasn’t won, he said, “You mean IPL? I don’t really care whether I am judged on this or not.” He said he knows there are lots of critics but while he would like to win the IPL, there is “no real parameter on which you have to tick all the boxes.”
Rest Kohli for WC: Vaughan
Gautam Gambhir had fired the first salvo when he said Kohli has been lucky to have captained so long in the IPL. “I don’t see him as a shrewd captain, I don’t see him a tactful captain (tactician).”
Now, Michael Vaughan, former England captain, too has chimed in. “If India are smart, they should rest Virat Kohli for the World Cup… Give him some time off before the big event.”
More and more people will jump on that Vaughan bandwagon now, but it remains to be seen if Kohli decides to go that way. It won’t come easily for him — to sidestep and sit out because it got too hot in the battle. It isn’t his style. Would he soldier on and work with the new mindset that he is talking about, the calmer “take it easy” approach?
Before we go on to Kohli, it’s also time to pause and have a look at Gary Kirsten, the coach. Two poor seasons in the IPL with Delhi Daredevils and now Bangalore mean he needs to take as much blame as the captain in some of the baffling team-composition decisions. But as captain of the ship, it will be Kohli who will face the heat.
Perhaps, it comes down to Kohli’s T20 philosophy. Sample a couple of his quotes at the start of this year’s IPL. “You bring enough energy onto the ground, you can win on that day.” Or this: “In T20, it’s anyone’s game at end of the day.” This is what you expect an ordinary fan to say, not a captain, especially after 10 years of competition where it’s clear that teams with good skippers often end up doing well.
He isn’t entirely wrong, but more successful captains use that sentiment as a base-line philosophy to not get overworked in tight situations. However, they do believe that a captain makes a difference with his tactical decisions. With Kohli, because of the results, it seems an excuse.
This year’s IPL, in particular, has been harsh on him. The HD cameras have often swooped down on his face: sullen, angry, lips curling into B-word, arms flailing about, and even if one believes that all this is to be expected in a high-octane format that is T20, sample his own reaction on Sunday night after yet another dispiriting defeat. Unlike in the previous games, he was almost icy cold. A stone-faced voice, barring few empty punches to the air, he wasn’t his animated, emotional self. And later at the post-match ceremony with Ian Bishop, he explained his current state of mind.
“There is nothing more to say to the team. The more we get frustrated, the more the tougher it’s going to get. Personally, I am not trying to control the situation too much. There is a certain extent you can control, which is your own personal skill. Try your best and expect the same from the team. The key is to take it easy, relax. If we stop enjoying, rest of the games will also suffer,” he said.
This wasn’t the first time he is showing such sentiments. In 2013, during another poor IPL season, he had talked about the need to rein in his emotions. “It’s the job of a coach and a captain primarily to keep the team together and I now understand that. If you show panic at the top post, then the guys are obviously gonna scatter around and not play as a unit.” They definitely have scattered around this IPL as well.
Things turned dire in the last game against KKR and Kohli was in his most sullen avatar: cursing and generally carrying on with the air of a man wronged by the world and his team-mates. He had reasons to believe so: catches were repeatedly grassed, bowlers almost bowled against the field, or so it seemed, and everything that could go wrong went wrong. Mohammad Siraj in particular caught Kohli’s ire a lot with his dropped catches and errant bowling. It wasn’t a surprise then that when Siraj was called on to bowl a vital over in the end, he tensed up and sent down a beamer and was out of the game.
So shaken was he that at the end of that game, Kohli said this: “If you can’t defend 75 in the last four overs, then I don’t know if you can defend 100. We just didn’t have composure. We have a bit of chat about what went wrong but apart from that, there’s nothing much you can say. It’s been a disappointing season…the last four overs the way we bowled; we deserve to lose.
It’s been a strange season, not only on the field but the way he has started it. Even before the first match, he sought to talk about how the team didn’t have anything to do with the last year’s popular slogan: “Ee saala cup nammade” (This time, the cup is ours). Unprovoked, he brought up that and dissociated the franchise with the slogan. Never mind the likes of Brendon McCullum to Kohli himself were seen mouthing that line last year.
And just before the first game in Chennai, asked whether he is frustrated that he hasn’t won, he said, “You mean IPL? I don’t really care whether I am judged on this or not.” He said he knows there are lots of critics but while he would like to win the IPL, there is “no real parameter on which you have to tick all the boxes.”
Rest Kohli for WC: Vaughan
Gautam Gambhir had fired the first salvo when he said Kohli has been lucky to have captained so long in the IPL. “I don’t see him as a shrewd captain, I don’t see him a tactful captain (tactician).”
Now, Michael Vaughan, former England captain, too has chimed in. “If India are smart, they should rest Virat Kohli for the World Cup… Give him some time off before the big event.”
More and more people will jump on that Vaughan bandwagon now, but it remains to be seen if Kohli decides to go that way. It won’t come easily for him — to sidestep and sit out because it got too hot in the battle. It isn’t his style. Would he soldier on and work with the new mindset that he is talking about, the calmer “take it easy” approach?