Sports

Captain Marvel’s Aggro Industry

Virat Kohli’s captaincy mixes brazen aggression, bold tactics, luck and great form

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Captain Marvel’s Aggro Industry
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The mere presence of Virat Kohli on the field seems to precipitate matters. First, he thrust himself on to the course of the game in ODIs and Twenty-20s. Now, 20 Tests old as captain, he has brought this frisson to the longer format too. So much so that every day of a Test when he is captain feels like an ODI, every session like a T20 game. That’s because during his short reign he has picked a different XI for each of these 20 Tests. In short, no combination has played in any two matches under Kohli. The obj­e­ctive is two-pronged: to keep the opp­ostion guessing and to stick to a ‘hor­ses-for-courses’ policy. Circumstances, of course, force changes, like in Mohali last week, when Parthiv Patel was dramatically recalled to the Test team after eight years following Wriddhiman Saha’s injury.

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Kohli says he picks the playing eleven that suit the local conditions, the opposition and the pitches. “This is something that we made pretty clear when we lost the Galle Test (against Sri Lanka in 2015). After that, we had a pretty clear chat that we are going to play people that we think are suitable for different venues. And the team bought into it,” Kohli said before the start of the Mohali Test, which India won to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Not just the team, even chief coach Anil Kumble has. Horses for courses could also mean playing with only six batsmen and five bowlers, a combination that Kohli has already opted for with success, as seen in the three Tests in the ongoing England series. Kohli, 28, seems to have taken a liking for the high pressure job of the captain. Out of the 20 Tests he has captained, India has won 12, giving Kohli a 60 per cent success rate. He has lost only two Tests. Raj Kumar Sharma, his childhood coach at the West Delhi Cricket Academy, says his former ward wants to win all the time. “He always says he wouldn’t put his teammates under pressure or expect something from them that he himself can’t do. He backs his players and gives them space and freedom, and that’s why this team is on way to becoming the best that India has ever produced,” says Sharma.

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Legendary off-spinner E.A.S. Prasanna points to the luck that shines on Kohli. “The overall strength of the Indian team has been very dominating and intimidating for the opposition. Also, 80 per cent of the games are being played in India, giving it the home advantage,” he says.

But for the sporting public and onfield rivals, Kohli signifies an in-the-face aggression, even brashness. He exhibited these attributes first for Delhi, his home team, and for IPL’s Royal Challengers Bangalore, which he also captains. If Kohli’s intensity mars, for some genteel souls, the image of benign figures shuffling along in pristine flannels, he has endorsement from the great English captain, Mike Brearley, who says in The Art of Captaincy: “Captains are under more pressure. They have to make decisions quickly, in response to rapidly changing situations. They have to deal with players, including themselves, who are generally at a higher pitch of excitement, anxiety, elation or dejection. It’s not surprising if traditional courtesies are eroded...or if the captain’s own temper is liable to become flustered.”

“We have to start looking towards the future. The selection committee and the Board felt Kohli is future captaincy material,” Krishnamachari Srikkanth, chairman of the selection committee, had said in 2012, while announcing the appointment of Kohli as vice-captain. Till then, Kohli had played 82 ODIs, aggregated 3,233 runs (47.54), and slammed nine centuries. Unperturbed by the new responsibility, Kohli smashed an 86-ball 133 not out in his first outing as vice-captain, against Sri Lanka, at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka, where he had scored a century in his very first World Cup match the previous year. Clearly, pressure won’t cramp the style out of those whiplash, spring-action cover drives and his rasping on-drives, not to mention his hawk-like presence on the field, forever daring batsmen to sneak a single, an offer most decline.   

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Again, when he took over Test captaincy from Dhoni in Adelaide in December 2014, he hammered centuries in both innings. That India lost by 48 runs was not due to his poor captaincy; off-spinner Nathan Lyon had triggered one of India’s batting collapses in the second innings. Since then, Kohli hasn’t looked back. Here are some statistics to savour: As skipper, he has batted in 33 innings, scored 1,861 runs at 60.03, and cracked seven tons—including a career high of 211 against New Zealand in Indore in October, and four 50-plus scores. Kohli, therefore, leads by example. “That’s the hallmark of an excellent captain,” says Prasanna. Unmukt Chand, the Delhi batsman who idolises Kohli, also talks about his insatiable hunger for success. “He’s a good, aggressive captain. He has played so much cricket that he knows what is important. Also, he’s street-smart. He has taken some bold decisions, under him the Indian team bonds well. He makes an effort to have everyone on the same page in terms of fitness and game-plan,” says Chand.

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But, true to form, former India ODI captain Ajay Jadeja has a different take. “I feel he is an impatient captain. But impatience doesn’t mean a drawback. It’s just an observation, not a judgement; in sport, you cannot make judgements. But it doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s the best person you have to be captain,” Jadeja, who shares with Kohli a hard-nosed practicality, tells Outlook. “In his batting, he is not impatient. He brings in another style. A leader has to lead by example, and I’m not talking about scoring runs and taking wickets only. By ‘lead-by-example’ I mean your commitment on the ground and preparation towards a series,” he stresses. “When your captain is fit, fat people like me, too, have to work hard,” he jokes. Former India under-19 coach Lalchand Rajput also knows Kohli well, from the time when the Delhi cricketer played in the Indian colts team. “He likes to be aggressive and wants other people to be so. And when he is aggressive, he performs better,” says Rajput.

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The word ‘aggressive’ should not be misinterpreted for being rude, points out Rajput. “Being aggressive doesn’t mean you’ve to go overboard or start fighting; being aggressive is showing a positive body language to the opposition, that you are keen to perform and do well,” he says. Captain Kohli’s att­itude has rubbed off on his teammates, most of whom are in his age-group, and that helps both parties to understand each other, gel well, and share a joke off the field.

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Former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi, however, feels it is premature to analyse Kohli’s captaincy. “His real test as captain will come when he will have to lift the team from bottom to top, and when he leads the team in Australia and England. Give him some time; let’s not rush,” he says.

Jadeja is on the same page as Bedi. “You don’t judge anybody when things are going well in sport; I judge people when things are down in sport. I look at cricket that way; I don’t look at numbers,” he says.

Australians have been traditionally agg­ressive on and off the field, with Steve Waugh’s use of “mental disintegration” as a valid onfield strategy wrestling its way into cricketing lore. “The same thing Virat is doing now, and it’s because he wants to win all the time. And that reflects on the players’ performance as well. Now he is playing with five bowlers and they too have started performing,” underlines Rajput.

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Kohli himself has made it amply clear that the team comes first. “Even with the batting order changes; I have gone up and down the order and other batsmen are keen to do it as well. So, I think it sends the message across that the eventual motive is for the team to win,” he said before the Mohali Test. For now, Kohli’s lust for success is proving contagious. Everyone in the team is under its influence.

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