8 teams, 60 matches and 7 ‘Indian’ skippers (discounting
Duminy and Miller) constituted the recently concluded 9th edition of
the Indian Premier League. This featured 2 new teams, unfamiliar captains
(Raina, Vijay), seasoned IPL leaders (Gambhir, Rohit, Dhoni), a motivational
veteran (Zaheer Khan) and Indian cricket’s man of the moment - Virat Kohli
captaining a powerful side. Right through pre-tournament previews till the
beginning of the finals, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) wasn’t the most fancied team
in the competition. The team was led by the only non-Indian skipper - David
Warner, who didn’t have any prior experience of leading Australia. The middle
order appeared fragile and injuries to experienced Indian international players
(Nehra and Yuvraj) added to the perceptual woes.
Quietly and probably facilitated by the lack of attention,
SRH managed to string in consistent wins and stay in the hunt for the title. The
template of SRH was designed to ensure penetration with the new ball and control
at the death, and not rely heavily on the batting. The playoffs summed up the
story of SRH for the season - the trio of Warner, Mustafizur and Bhuvneshwar Kumar
functioning as the lynchpin, while others standing up at crucial moments.
While Kohli hogged all the limelight for scoring 973 runs at
an average 81, the applause for Warner’s tally of 848 runs at 61 was probably
overshadowed by the appreciation of his leadership. SRH’s story in so many ways
is reminiscent to that of Rajasthan Royals in 2008 and Deccan Chargers in 2009:
an experienced Australian player with relatively less captaincy experience helming
a successful campaign and leading from the front! While the jury is out on who
was the best skipper in the tournament, the above pattern subtly invokes the
good-old clichéd debate of whether a captain is as good as his team or his/her
leadership skills make a team of individuals punch above their weight!
Ravi Shastri has been working closely with the Indian team
management for most of the last 2 seasons and hence whatever he says commands
attention. Just after the conclusion of IPL-2016, he voiced his preference for
Virat Kohli leading India in all 3 formats and letting MS Dhoni enjoy his last
few years without the additional burden. India hasn’t won a major title since
2013, despite finishing in the last 4 on two occasions. Dhoni-led Chennai Super
Kings (CSK) lost the final of IPL-2015 and Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) had a
shoddy debut season under him. Kohli was anointed as the skipper of the test
side in 2015, after Dhoni retired from the format and since then India has a
win-loss record of 5-1 (not including the Adelaide test of December 2014 as
Kohli was the temporary skipper then). Kohli became the skipper of Royal
Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2013 and discounting a blip in 2014, RCB have
had two top-4 finishes in the last 2 seasons.
2nd November 2008 is the last day when Dhoni
played an international match under somebody else; this loosely infers to
having spent more time leading teams since starting off than the other way! Given
the kind of personality that he is you can never judge his thoughts/plans on
face value. The Champions Trophy in 2017 is a year away and the 50-over World Cup
roughly 3 years from now in 2019. The recent IPL season suggests that Dhoni
still is India’s best bet as the keeper/batsman in the side. Wicketkeepers
generally don’t have a shelf life as long as batsmen and hence you’d bank upon
a 27-year old rather than a 34-year old as a long-term investment.
The other side of the story makes this apparently linear
problem slightly complex. Sachin Tendulkar didn’t have an illustrious stint as
the skipper of India, but when he stepped aside he indicated about poor string
of results affecting his form as batsman. Kohli is by some distance India’s
best batsman at the moment, and by making him a 12-month skipper could be jeopardising
form. Test cricket tends to keep a check on moments of adrenaline rush as the
final goal is always a long distance away. Limited overs cricket tends to bring
such reactions to the surface and can have a negative impact on the fielding
sides; needless to say who among the two (Dhoni and Kohli) is the non-preferred
choice in this regard.
India has plenty of bilateral tournaments in the next 10
months, predominantly featuring test cricket. We have seen Virat Kohli the batsman be
tested across conditions but haven’t seen much of Virat Kohli the Indian
skipper yet. Perhaps by the time the 2016-17 season ends we might an answer or
a definitive clue on who would be leading India for the 2019 World Cup. Until
then we might resume to the argument on the influence captains have in the
final outcome!
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