Virat Kohli is the most successful Indian captain. He is far ahead of the next successful Indian captain, MS Dhoni. The Indian test team under Kohli has been more or less invincible at home and in favourable conditions. His win-loss record up until the end of The Oval test is 2.37. This is an incredible record for an Asian captain. It is somewhat surprising to note that Kohli now holds the record for most wins among the Asian captains in the SENA countries. Much better than Imran Khan who was known to have united a set of players known to pull in different directions. For that matter, MS Dhoni who is thought to be a shrewd captain and good in managing players. Ranatunga, the burly batter who lifted the spirits of an entire island nation to achieve greater deeds. Should Kohli be replaced as captain? Let me see.
Mastered Sri Lankan and West Indian conditions
There is absolutely no question over the fact Kohli’s record in India, Sri Lanka and West Indies it top class. His record speaks for itself. The last time, the Indian team toured Sri Lanka, they won 9-0. It includes 3 tests, 3 ODIs and 3 T20s. The one before, India won 2-1. He is the only Indian captain to have won 2 consecutive series in the West Indies. It is a different matter both the teams aren’t that good any longer. Nonetheless, these are creditable wins. Winning a series outside the country for any captain is a commendable achievement. It is not the wins that is important but the manner of these wins because India absolutely decimated Sri Lanka and West Indies.
Total dominance at home
Indian team’s dominance in India under Kohli is absolute. 23 wins in 30 tests. They have annihilated every team that ever visited these shores. The wins in India provided a huge boost to Kohli overall win-loss record though it is not insignificant. In most of these games, Kohli himself contributed immensely with his bat.
However, scratch the surface, the picture perhaps in not that rosy but still better than most of the other captains.
The most challenging tours
The main challenge under Kohli is for India to win series in the SENA countries. SENA stands for South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia. By the time, Kohli became the captain, wins in India and other nations that are not part of SENA became more or less a formality. India became too strong for all those teams in India. What started under Ganguly snowballed nicely into total dominance within the shores of the country. Strangely, the story when India travels to the SENA countries is the exact opposite. India hardly managed to win any in those countries except in 2007 & 2008 in England and New Zealand.
Most of the time, it was utter disgrace. Under Dhoni 0-4, 1-4 and its ilk became common. It was under such circumstance did Kohli became the captain. Have the results in these countries improved? Were the team able to avoid being humiliated under Kohli? Let me analyse further.
Record in the SENA countries
Kohli has had few opportunities to captain the team in the SENA countries. The current tour to England is his second opportunity. Apart from this, he lead the side twice in New Zealand, once in South Africa and twice in Australia if the series during which Dhoni relinquished his captaincy is discounted. India won the 2018 series in Australia under Kohli. However, there will always be an asterix attached to that series because it was Smith and Warner less and moreover, the Australians were there for the taking. They had absolutely no confidence whatsoever and perhaps fielded the worst batting unit in living memory.
If that series is not counted, he had only one other chance in Australia in 2020-21 and he fluffed that. Remember that India won the series but it was under Rahane. Kohli lost the only test he had captained.
In New Zealand, Kohli is yet to win a test leave alone a series. In South Africa, he failed to win the only series.
Kohli has a golden opportunity to correct the abnormality. India is currently leading 2-1 against England and has every opportunity to win the series. Towards the end of the year he will get one more crack at South Africa who are ripe for the taking. If Kohli wins both the series, his legacy will be firmly entrenched alongside captains who have won in every country where they have captained.
Kohli and his uneasy relationship with limited overs cricket
The real challenge for Kohli is in the limited overs format. Both T20 and ODI. This is where Kohli has struggled for concrete results. Yes, he still has a good record. More than 60% of the games have been won. However, what stands out glaringly is the fact that the Indian team under Kohli has never managed to win any global tournament. This includes the 2017 Champions Trophy, 2018 T20 WC, 2019 ODI WC and the recently concluded WTC. To make matters worse, Kohli failed to perform as a batter in all these events. This leaves a lot of questions to be asked. Is Kohli mentally tough to pull off wins at the ICC events? Does he have the so called killer instinct for such events? The answer so far seems to be in the negative.
It is not just the ICC tournaments but Kohli is yet to win a single IPL trophy. He has led Royal Challengers Bangalore for 8 straight years. Yet, except for one final appearance, RCB have hardly done anything of note. It is just a miracle that a captain who has not won the IPL trophy after 8 years is still able to continue to be the captain.
Few more opportunities
Kohli will get couple more chances within the next 2 months. First to win his first ever IPL trophy and in November the World T20. Winning IPL is not going to enhance his reputation but winning a major ICC tournament certainly will. Kohli himself will want to correct this imbalance on his CV.
Conclusion
Kohli has done enough at the test level to continue as the skipper but in limited overs, unless he wins this year’s T20 WC, he must be replaced as skipper. Rohit Sharma who has much better credentials will have to takeover.