Former England skipper Mike Brearley believes Virat Kohli should not become too authoritative in his approach. There is no doubt that Kohli is India’s best batsman. However, there are some aspects of which, Kohli can improve as the captain of the side. Kohli has led the Indian team in an aggressive way. The Indian captain has his own methods which have delivered the goods for the team. However, India is yet to savour success while playing in the overseas conditions.
The Indian skipper can be over-excited with his approach. Kohli likes to play hard cricket and it is pivotal for him to understand each of his teammate’s style of play. It is generally noted that a captain style of play is rubbed on the remaining ten players of the side.
Kohli can be overaggressive in approach sometimes.
“I love watching him (Kohli) play cricket. He is a very intelligent captain and has a tremendous presence on the field,” said Brearley to The Times of India. “But he has so much charisma, articulacy and authority that there’s a danger of him becoming authoritarian.
The former England captain believes Virat Kohli should welcome other player’s opinion in the dressing room. Sometimes a captain can also veer off the track and thus it is pivotal for other players to tell it to the skipper.
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“He has got to have the capacity to tell people what to do. But if you become too authoritarian, then you are not open to other points of view. Becoming too influential can also mean that people are scared of giving you the opinion and then you don’t gather in. You need to have 11 captains in the team, just that you have to be the in-charge.”
Joe Root should take a cue from Virat Kohli.
On the other hand, Mike Brearley want England’s captain Joe Root to take a leaf out of Virat Kohli’s book as he should stamp his authority on the side.
“Having said that, I would add that Joe Root would do well to show some authority the way Kohli does. He would do well to articulate what he is looking for from his team, which I don’t know if he has done enough,” he said.
“Captaincy needs to be fairly intuitive. You can talk to some. You can talk to somebody else and try to figure out what happens in his mind.”
MS Dhoni was the king of limited overs cricket.
Meanwhile, Mike Brearley also talked about MS Dhoni’s captaincy. Dhoni was the king of limited overs leadership, however, he was on the defensive side as far as the Test cricket was concerned.
“I think MS Dhoni was a great ODI captain but I am not very sure whether he was a good Test captain,” said Brearley. “He wasn’t flexible enough with his tactics and I am not sure whether he was involved for long periods of time in the five-day format.
“But in ODIs, he was very good and he did things himself and took authority.”
Virat Kohli has still a lot to prove in the red ball version as the leader of the side. Kohli will like to keep leading with aplomb.