Former England captain Mike Brearley terms Kohli's captaincy as "authoritative"

What's the story?

There is no doubt as to whether Virat Kohli is the greatest Indian batsman of modern times – he is undoubtedly so. But when it comes to engaging with the team as its captain, Kohli has been just satisfactory, and when it comes to results, not close to it either.

Apart from all the opinions that various people across different walks of life have on his captaincy, former England captain Mike Brearley has now spoken up on how he feels Kohli was “too authoritative”.

In case you didn't know...

Kohli has 22 Test wins from 40 matches, 39 wins from 52 ODIs and 11 wins from 17 T20Is. Under him, India recently clinched their maiden T20I series in England, and also some important series wins in ODIs and T20Is in South Africa.

His captaincy, however, has been under fire in the ongoing Test series, where India has already lost the series 1-3 to England, and is at a precarious position in the last and final game that is going on at the Oval.

While the 1-3 may easily have been 3-1 had some players performed upto expectations, it is the eventual result alone that people will finally remember, and a 1-3 or 1-4 may give Kohli the impression of a failed captain – no matter how close the losses were.

The details

Brearley stated that while he appreciates Kohli's exploits with the willow, his huge presence on-field may work adversely, with other players no longer giving their opinions without too much of hesitation.

“He has so much charisma, articulacy, and authority that there’s a danger of him becoming authoritarian. If you become too authoritarian, then you are not open to other points of view. Becoming too influential can also mean that people are scared of giving you the opinion and then you don’t gather in. You need to have 11 captains in the team, just that you have to be the in-charge,” The Times of India quoted him as saying.

Brearley, however, pointed out the advantages of having someone like Kohli as captain as well. He advised England skipper Joe Root to take some pointers from him on how to have a bolder approach to the game.

“Captaincy needs to be fairly intuitive. You can talk to some. You can talk to somebody else and try to figure out what happens in his mind,” he concluded.

What's next?

Kohli's next assignment as captain will be the West Indies series at home in October - having been rested from the upcoming Asia Cup where Rohit Sharma will take his place. Afterwards comes the much-awaited tour to Australia. He will also lead the side for the first time in a World Cup, as the next edition of the global event gets underway on May 2019.