CHENNAI: West Indies will always remain a memorable place for Virat Kohli. He made his Test debut there eight summers ago. Understudy for a while in the one-day team, it was at Sabina Park in Kingston where he walked out to represent the country for the first time while donning whites. This was also the place where he went on to claim his first Test series win as captain outside the subcontinent.
Stature as batsman getting enhanced with almost each passing outing, Kohli returns to the Caribbean heading a team that is World No 1 in both Tests and ODIs. No matter the format or the opposition he’s up against, his hunger seems undiminished every time he steps out to bat. He has happy memories of batting in those islands too. The first of his six double centuries came at Sir Viv Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua, in 2016.
Along with plaudits, Kohli also carries a question mark to the West Indies this time around. And this one is over captaincy. His roaring bat had silenced whispers for a long time, but they have started getting louder over the past few months. Is he as good as captain as he is as a batsman? Not that one has to be, and in Kohli’s case perceptions are changing.
It’s well known that MS Dhoni is the one who leads the troops on the field when things get close in limited-over matches. There are also murmurs within the team that Kohli takes decisions unilaterally, without keeping anybody other than the chief coach in the loop. This according to certain players, along with his propensity to frequently make changes in the combination in Test matches, often has a destabilising effect on the side.
Does this mean Kohli will be removed as captain after West Indies? No. But he will be under scrutiny for the first time. According to sources, the decisions he takes will be dissected, and the moves he makes will be analysed. Talks of split captaincy have been doing the rounds and following Rohit Sharma’s rise in stature as a senior player in the one-day side, those not satisfied with Kohli’s performance as captain now have an alternative. It’s not as if he can remain in the hot seat because there is nobody else who can take his place.
Not that Kohli’s temperament as captain or his decision-making has always been above questioning, but the team’s performance under him has kept those apprehensions from crystallising. His record as captain — 26 wins, 10 losses, 10 draws in Tests, and 56 wins, 19 losses in ODIs — is such that it tides over many loopholes. Also, it’s difficult to fault somebody for captaincy with those kinds of numbers. In the past, it’s largely because of these statistics that talks on Kohli’s captaincy stopped as soon as they started.
With things ending on a disappointing note in the World Cup, and frequent changes in the XI and the batting order raising eyebrows, the issue of captaincy has again come to the fore. People are tight-lipped, but the selectors are understood to be considering the spilt-captaincy concept, given Rohit’s IPL record, his calmer demeanour and approach when at the helm. There are several who think he is a better choice as captain in the limited-over formats.
If that is indeed the case, then Kohli will be under a kind of pressure that he is not accustomed to. For the first time after he took over the reins of the team, he will get negative marking for every false step. Amid rave reviews over batting, the upcoming overseas trip will test him in ways the previous ones didn’t.