Virat Kohli announced that he was stepping down from the only leadership position he was left with – India’s test captaincy. With that sudden decision, he brought curtains on an era that lasted for 68 tests – an Indian record and sixth among all time captains and fourth among the number of wins. Seven years he was at the helm, he had lot of wins (no pun intended) and some near misses) but then who doesn’t, and we can take this moment to reflect on the great peaks team India scaled during this period.
Virat first stepped down from RCB captaincy in IPL, then came T20 step down announced just before the T20 world cup followed by bitter divorce of ODI captaincy and then the last nail in the coffin and India’s most decorated general became an ordinary soldier and not an officer anymore. The whole thing played out over the last few months as if to relive the song from Guru Dutt’s Kaagaz Ke Phool – Bichhde sabhi baari baari (he lost captaincy one after the other).
This is not an attempt to say what transpired was right or wrong. This is to celebrate the laurels that Virat brought to team India over the course of his leadership and boy did he do that passionately. If Sourav was the Bengali bhadralok (the prince of Calcutta), MS Dhoni was the Indian earthiness combined with calmness personified which got him the moniker Captain Cool, Virat was a blend – firebrand middle class cherubic Delhi boy who may have reveled in chhole kulcha and abstinated from the oily food to transform himself into lean and mean athlete. Delhi boy was always ready for a scrap and it was his belligerent approach that turned India into match winners consistently.
Speaking politically correct wasn’t his forte and he was an Australian in the skin of an Indian who didn’t shy away from letting opposition know and at times, he even conveying the choicest of regards for opponent’s mother, sister etc. He wasn’t the hero that Suraj Barjatya would have cast in his movies as Prem and was not your “ideal” mamma’s boy or boy next door though he imbibed all middle class values and was truly his own mamma’s boy.
One of the biggest criticism that Virat received was that he didn’t win any ICC trophy during his tenure and 1.3 Billion rich critics of India where anyone and everyone can comment on the highest level of cricket although 0.000x have ever suited up for any competitive level cricket but then that is India where the passion runs deep for their Bollywood and cricket and for those two, all religions start believing in idol worship, When things are going good, Indians will shower you with love and one mishap and you are their sworn enemy, even if they are not qualified to call you out. Cricket is a team sport and not winning ICC trophy was missed but it was not as if he lost the opportunities on purpose. Indians did dress up as brides but unfortunately settled as bridesmaids. Think about a leader who catapulted into the bigger orbit by winning the U19 World cup and it surely must have been worse for him but then critics aren’t listening.
Virat was fast tracked into captaincy and was ascended to the throne when MS Dhoni had pulled out of Adelaide test in 2014 and boy, Virat did show up prepared. He was the only captain to kick off his captaincy with hundreds in each innings and more so, how Indians displayed their intent and went for the win by attempting to knock off 364 runs in 98 overs against the mighty Aussies in their own backyard. They finished only 45 runs short which was testament to the fact that new India was ready for any battle and won’t go home crying. Team India which had lost their fab five to the retirement (latest being legend Sachin who hung his boots in Nov. 2013) had found the Talisman who was ready to take the torch and lead from the front. If Adelaide was the stepping stone, what followed over the next seven years was a joyride which continued to conquer the peaks during the course with an occasional fall. Anyone who follows sports will say fall is a part of the journey but how you react to the fall and how you bounce back is what defines the character and Virat’s team has more often than not showed that character in abundance.
Virat was triumphant in 40 out of 68 tests and lost 17 which means whopping 57 games out of 68 were result oriented. Good advocacy for a man who has been one of the strongest 21st century proponents of red/pink ball long form cricket. Virat has been among the few strong voices in modern era that has lent his support to the dying interest in test cricket. Closer look at the 11 games which didn’t net the results and you will stumble upon reasons which resulted in draws – could be weather.
Team India managed to atop the inaugural world test championship and it was pity that they lost to New Zealand in a rain affected game and sorry to say WTC ended in a single win or lose game and not played over a series. Indians had few abysmal days like brain fade of 36 all out or a bad session with New Zealand in World Cup semifinal or a bad few overs against arch rivals Pakistan in Champions Trophy finals and those games were lost to a session. Number of legends who have played any sport has said that you need fate to put the cherry on all your hard work and if that were to ever culminate in a championship, lady luck definitely needs to bless you, maybe they didn’t give him the love that he deserved and he always was stopped at the final hurdle and this meant his ICC trophy cabinet stayed barren but what you can’t take away from him is that Virat taught the team to win consistently and away from home and win big.
Virat will always be amongst the great captains this wonderful game has produced in almost 140-year-old history of the game and he is amongst the fourth highest winning captain and the sixth amongst most capped captains and definitely if there was a Mount Rushmore equivalent of Indian captains, he would be among the four faces. Virat the batsman hasn’t performed bad and has had some dips in the lofty standards that he had defined for himself but the stress and over scrutinizing of everything that he does – be it taking time off for his daughter’s birth or her first birthday. Virat has been a consistent performer and it is only a pity that people have not left his family specifically his then girlfriend and now wife Anushka Sharma alone and have blamed her for the losses. Recently, I saw some trolls calling his 1-year-old out for India’s loss and I feel ashamed that these people call themselves fans which is short for fanatics, but the fans need to live and die with the team and not dissect every loss.
Virat has won India the mace that WTC toppers get (which was lost to NZ) and he has traded rough waters with earlier coach legendary Anil Kumble and even current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly but that is what happens when you have two alpha male lions marking their territory and that is expected. Internationally too, Virat’s personality has ruffled few feathers but then he was never Sachin or Dravid. Virat brought the attacking mindset out and had always believed in 5 bowler 5 batsman theory and went for the attack rather than playing it safe. On one hand he was blessed with the best arsenal of fast bowlers that the country has offered and on the other hand, was blessed with single dimension players where his top five could not roll their arms over and missed out on the luxuries that Sourav, Dravid or Dhoni had where top order batsman could be brought on as partnership breakers and each of them had various options to choose from. On a typical off day when the front-line bowlers are unable to make inroads, these golden armers could come in handy and as I said, unfortunately Virat missed out but then it cant be his fault.
Virat has scored seven double hundreds and all of them as captain so that makes him the captain with highest number of doubles to his name and also has 20+ hundreds as captain which is second all-time so he hasn’t let his batting affected by additional responsibility of Captain. This is very different from other legends who would step down as their cire competency suffered due to leadership. Kohli reveled in pressure and his numbers were better as a captain. He scored 18 half centuries to go with his hundreds.
Virat the captain was Asia’s most successful captain in SENA countries and never lost or drew a series at Home. Kohli also was the first Asian captain to win a series in Australia and he even a test in Centurion in the current series in SA. Technically, he ended the series 1-1 (one other test was helmed by KL Rahul is in the consideration for Kohli’s successor). When the tributes poured in, Wasim Jaffer rightly said before Virat took over, India was not expected to win away test easily but after he took over, losing an away test would mean an upset. English legend Cook said the Indian team looked like a team that bore the culture of Virat Kohli and that was an effusive praise.
Virat stayed as an Indian captain for 2600 days, must have done something right to escape the selector’s fidgety fingers. Kohli always backed his players especially bowlers (ok maybe Ashwin won’t agree) and fought for them. Virat led from the front in everything right from fitness to finesse and was one of the major reasons why Indians operated as a well-oiled unit. Fitness had never been so high on the agenda for teams from the subcontinent and Virat influenced that positively.
You can go on and on and even throw light on the flip sides of the coin where Virat could have done better but that is for a different day and I don’t consider myself qualified enough to have an opinion on the position that is among the top 10 most keenly followed leadership role in India, the Prime Minister and the President included.
Will sign off with Thank You Virat for these years and making us believe. Take a bow Virat. You surely gave us much more joy than setbacks and wish you well for your career ahead.
