Virat Kohli is set to end his tenure as a captain in the shortest format of the game with zero titles to his name. Having bid goodbye to captaincy in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), the T20 World Cup 2021 will also be his last as the captain of the Indian team in T20Is. While there’s no denying that Kohli hasn’t won a single ICC title as captain yet, former Pakistan skipper Danish Kaneria feels the Indian batting stalwart is an ‘unsuccessful skipper’ overall.
The criticism of Kohli’s captaincy has been thick and heavy, with many former cricketers raising questions over his selection of batting order in the team. Even the body language of the team has been questioned, with Kohli himself admitting that the players were not brave enough against the Kiwis.
Listing out reasons behind India’s dismal show in the T20 World Cup 2021, Kaneria said that Kohli’s captaincy is No. 1 on his list.
“There are a lot of reasons. The first one is Virat Kohli – he has been an unsuccessful captain. He made wrong team selections for the WTC final. Until he was there in Australia, India lost and then Ajinkya Rahane became the captain and led his team to a win. No doubt Virat Kohli is a big player but I have never seen captaincy potential in him. He has a lot of aggression but the decision-making ability as a captain is missing in him,” the ex-Pakistan spinner said in a video posted on his YouTube channel.
Kaneria also feels head coach Ravi Shastri, whose tenure as the head coach of the Indian team is to end after the T20 World Cup 2021, has already disappeared.
“Another reason is Ravi Shastri who has just disappeared. It seems as though he feels ‘My time is up, the World Cup is the last in my tenure. I won’t be there post this. So whatever happens let it happen’ and he too has stepped aside. I won’t blame MS Dhoni too much since he has just come into the side. Yet, he was part of the management and cricket involves all the 11 players as well as the management. So everybody is responsible. It’s not an individual sport but a team sport so the entire team is responsible”, added Kaneria.
During the T20I series against England had home, Kohli had revealed his plans of opening alongside Rohit Sharma in the T20 World Cup 2021 for India. But in the tournament, it was Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul who opened in the first match against Pakistan while Rohit was brought down at No. 3 while Ishan Kishan replaced him at the top. Kaneria feels there’s a conflict in Kohli’s thinking with regards to the best combinations in the team.
“I cannot understand this conflict – Virat Kohli opens for RCB and stated that he will open in the World Cup as well. Once the World Cup comes closer he says that there aren’t better openers than KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma and they will open. Then where did Ishan Kishan come from during the New Zealand game? No doubt Rohit Sharma is the vice-captain but they ended up feeling that Trent Boult is ahead of him so they should try something different. They would be assuming that Rohit and Rahul will come out to open so if we sent Ishan Kishan to open their plans would flop.”
In comparison, Kaneria highlighted that Kane Williamson show his excellent credentials as a captain, coming up with different plans for particular situations in the game against India.
“But Kane Williamson and New Zealand had Plans A, B and C ready. Whatever cards Kane Williamson played were right on top. Everybody performed for them. But India made a big mistake – they should not have changed the opening combination. They should have allowed Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul to open. Yes they should have played Ishan Kishan – I would have also played him but in the position of Hardik Pandya”, said the former Pakistani cricketer.
