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Split Captaincy? Kohli vs Rohit!

Well, I sometimes do imagine the togetherness that cricket has brought in the lives of the Indian people. The game has become so important in our lives that sometimes our entire mood might depend on the team’s performance in the middle. The fans just love the sport and there is almost every household in the country where the cricketers are treated as idols. 

So, The Men in Blue were back in action after 9 months and everyone was excited. International cricket for India was returning and we were traveling to Australia. Having beaten them in the longer formats of the game back in the 2018-19 season, there was a hope that we will be fighting hard and will be giving them a close contest.


(Source: Facebook)


However, things have not been towards the Indian side to date and we have lost the One Day International (ODI) Series. It is quite common that if we lose a series, then that ignites a lot of public debate throughout social media. The people criticize some decisions and pit into two or more groups. People come with numerous facts and figures and try to justify their part. Team changes, certain decisions during the game, and many other topics have always been the talking points. The thing that I am going to talk about has already been in news for the past couple of years.  

 

I thought that this might be the best time to write something which might interest a lot of fans around there. We have just lost a series and many experts and fans are discussing the concept of split captaincy. Keeping it simple I will talk about; Do the Indian Cricket Team need a change? Should Rohit Sharma replace Virat Kohli as the limited-overs captain? What is the term ‘split captaincy’? Which teams have been following it and has there been any impact of the same in their performances? And should India follow it? 


(Source: DNA India)

Teams generally play three formats of cricket. Having different captains for different formats is something that we call split captaincy. There are some International Teams following the same for the past few years, England and Australia being the best on the list. The Ashes playing nations have a pretty decent record for the same but with a few conditions to play in. 


For the World Champions, they have been doing fairly well in all three formats, with Eoin Morgan leading them in the limited-overs format and Joe Root in the unlimited one. Whereas the Aussies have also enjoyed a fair bit of success at least on their home soil (barring the Ashes Series) with Tim Paine leading the team in the test matches and Aaron Finch in the ODIs and T20s. 

 

When it comes to the Indian Cricket Team, we have two options. Virat Kohli (the current captain in all three formats of the game) and Rohit Sharma. 

 

For the Indian Team, we have a very decent captain in the form of Virat Kohli who knows, what to do with the players and how to get the best out of them. On the other hand, Rohit Sharma is also a very good option considering he has won 5 IPL Trophies as the captain of the Mumbai Indians team. He gives a very fair competition to the Indian skipper at the moment. However, I do feel that the equation of two or more captains would not work for our cricket team. 

 

Just have a look at the Indian side for a moment. Consider all three formats. List down the players separately. How many of them can you name who will fall under all three formats? The Indian Team has a large pool of players (around 80%) who play in all three formats of the game. If we change captains, there is a slight possibility that it might create a sense of confusion between players as their respective captains might have different tactics to play with. Many would contradict that the England Team has won a world cup with the same equation. A simple question to them, how many of their ODI Players do you find in their Test side? Fun Fact: Their World Cup-winning Captain; Eoin Morgan doesn’t find a place there and Joe Root is not a permanent member in the limited-overs side. 

 

The Captains of many of the teams who follow the concept of split captaincy do not find a place in the other format of the game. Aaron Finch has no place in the Australian Test Side whereas Tim Paine cannot fit into the limited-overs team. Whereas for Virat Kohli, you can’t even think of keeping him out of the team. He is arguably the best batsman in the world right now and has shown that extra level of responsibility in his batting since appointed as the team’s captain. He has done nothing wrong for the team and the team performances have been on a high during his captaincy. He is already the most successful Indian Test Captain in terms of wins and has a win rate of 72% and 66% in ODIs and T20Is respectively. Talking about his batting ability, he averages at a rate of 74 as a captain compared to 59.3 to his career average in ODI, which proves that there is no extra pressure on him and the extra responsibility brings the best of Virat Kohli.


(Source: Facebook)

Rohit Sharma on the other hand has managed his Mumbai Indians side very well. He along with his team management has built a side that can be considered as one of the best T20 sides in the world. He has the numbers favoring him in the IPL and that might put him above Virat Kohli. But still for me, on an international level, he only comes in the picture for the captaincy spot if there is no Virat Kohli. 

 

Everyone would agree that IPL is a very good platform to judge any performance of any player. There have been many players who have found a place in the national squad due to their great performance in the IPL seasons. People take this as a factor and try to put Rohit ahead of Virat in terms of captaincy. For me, the performances at the international level should be assessed differently. It is not something that can be neglected upon. Players who have the experience and have been a good performer at that level of the game just cannot be thrown out of the team due to their bad performance in franchise-based cricket. The same should apply to the captains.  

 

(Source: Cricket Country)


The Indian team might not have won a trophy under the leadership of Virat Kohli, but have won away from the T20I series against New Zealand and England. They will be a strong contender for the upcoming T20 World Cup in India and it will be a good test of Kohli and his captaincy skills. Speaking of the current record, they won 15 of their last 19 games which includes a 5-0 whitewash win against New Zealand in New Zealand. 

 

The coming years are quite crucial for the Indian Team considering the various ICC Trophies at stake. A change here might not be the best thing to do. It might affect the mindsets of players and they can take time to adjust for the same. On the other hand, Kohli who is just 32 at the moment is pretty crucial for the team and still has years to play for. His captaincy in the two ICC tournaments has also been pretty decent barring the two heartbreaks we had at different stages. 


I do believe that Kohli is pretty much aware of his roles and duties. He has learned a lot over time and would implement the same at the right time and in the right place. He still has a big career in front of him. I strongly believe that he would just step down as the skipper of the side at the right moment wherein he could guide the upcoming captain just as MS Dhoni did. 

 

For the split captaincy part, Kapil Dev and Mahendra Singh Dhoni too have been against the idea. It just cannot work in the Indian Team. To be honest, we have a big advantage of having so many leaders in our squad and it is better to utilize them rather than creating a rift for the same. Rohit can act as a great assistant and help Kohli in every way possible. For the time being that it is in the best interest of the Indian Cricket Team to keep the things as it is and move forward as a strong unit. 


- Kshitij


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