Ray Jennings, Anil Kumble and now Daniel Vettori. The list of coaches who have had a fallout with Virat Kohli seems to be growing every season. The recent sacking of RCB head coach Vettori along with a couple of foreign support staff, however, comes as a surprise as captain Kohli shared a good rapport with the Kiwi.
Unlike Jennings and Kumble, who were known to be hard taskmasters, Vettori oozes calm and Kohli had even talked him up for the Team India coaching job. So, it’s intriguing why Kohli didn’t try to save Vettori from the axe. Did the coach stop being the captain’s ‘yes man’?
It’s no secret that Kohli likes to wield undisputed power. Within a year of taking charge as the skipper of RCB, Kohli influenced a change of coach by bringing Vettori in place of Jennings, a no-nonsense and outspoken South African. As a parting shot, Jennings had warned, “Kohli is a very talented kid but sometimes thinks he is better than the game.”
As a cricket captain, Kohli well knows the importance of taking control. While the soccer supremos hold all the power in picking players, support staff and devise the strategies for the game, it is the cricket captain who is the real supremo of the sport. ‘Skipper’, used as a term of endearment for cricket captains, shows that they are as respected and obeyed by their team as a ship’s captain is.
(Left to right) Ray Jennings, Daniel Vettori and Anil Kumble, all had a fallout with Virat Kohli.
The choice of picking players is also the captain’s prerogative, particularly when their teams are performing well and winning. A board member who has knowledge of selection matters says that the selectors’ duty was merely to endorse the choice of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was at one time, the undisputed supremo of cricket. “He was winning everything and what else could we do but tick the players he named. They were happy to make up the numbers at the end,” says the official.
Tweet Talk
Arsh Sandhu (@i_m_arsh): Kohli wants to be Imran Khan! He wants to run Indian cricket alone! He can do wonders or blunders.
Alagappan V (@IndianMourinho): Not a fan of two power centres at the helm, as it rarely works out. One, therefore, has to be a dummy. But the dominant one needs to be tactically adept. With India and RCB, it isn’t the case. Kohli is rank mediocre when it comes to constructing a team or leading on the field.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, too, wielded undisputed power as captain.
Earlier, captains Sourav Ganguly and Sunil Gavaskar were also powerful in keeping their band of brothers together but the moment their teams began to perform patchily, the selectors would step in to take over a measure of control.
In his prime as batsman and skipper, Sachin was also given his choices, but once he started failing as a captain, he faced criticism for promoting players with a narrow vision. The supremo tag thus, cuts both ways. Fans can also turn pretty quickly on captains if their teams fail.
Today, Kohli is riding the crest of a wave, his only Test series failures having come abroad in Australia and South Africa where Team India have never won a series anyway. And he is already in control of things on the Team India front.
The sacking of Anil Kumble and the choice of Ravi Shastri as manager-coach was also Kohli’s doing, even though the Kumble episode was a blot in Kohli’s conduct certificate. Kumble was termed “too overbearing” and Shastri reportedly became his favourite choice for the coach’s propensity to be a ‘yes man’. Coaching the Indian team has always been about managing the egos. Anybody who stands in the captain’s way and questioned his authority has fallen by the wayside.
Madan Lal, a member of India’s 1983 World Cup winning team, says people have misunderstood Shastri’s way of guiding Kohli. “Knowing Ravi, I can confidently say that he wouldn’t be saying “yes” to whatever Kohli does. He also understands that the coach’s job is to motivate the captain and it’s not just about managing egos,” says Lal.
Having coached the Indian team in 1996-97 when Sachin Tendulkar was the iconic figure, Lal knows the importance of man-management skills. “Maybe I couldn’t last long because of the different requirement. My focus was more on getting results. But Ravi is managing these star players excellently. Once you get the results with a particular way of functioning, you continue with that. Also, it’s unfair to point fingers only at Shastri when the team is not doing well. There are other support staff in the team like Bharat Arun (bowling coach), Sanjay Bangar (batting coach) and Sridhar (fielding coach). They have been with the team for quite some time and they are also answerable,” he adds.
Former India cricketer and BCCI selector VB Chandrasekar says the team belongs to the captain more than the coach. “In my opinion, the Indian team is all about the success of the captain. Coaching, at the highest level, is over-rated. The role of a coach is more like that of a mentor. It’s important for a coach to accept that the team belongs to the captain. Egos will come into play only when the coach starts exercising authority. Being on the same page may not necessarily happen all the time,” says Chandrasekar.
He adds, “While talking about egos, we should understand that Kohli admitted his mistakes in picking the playing XI after the dismal performance at Lord’s Test. He has not attributed those errors to anyone else. The coach can make suggestions, but it’s ultimately the captain’s call.”
Putting a top performing team together has been a challenge not all Team India skippers have tackled well enough. Ganguly was exceptional in picking players from an all-India perspective while Dhoni inherited that legacy and attitude. Kohli, who hasn’t won a major global limited-overs trophy yet, may have some way to go as a team builder. But he is already on the path to becoming Indian cricket’s top supremo after Dhoni.
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