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Cricket Players'One very good at his job, the other a failure': Ian Chappell gives his no-nonsense verdict on Kohli, Root's captaincy
The Australia great was quite direct in his remarks as he talked about Virat Kohli and Joe Root's leadership skills.
Virat Kohli had announced his decision to step down as captain of the Indian Test team earlier this month, sending shock waves across the cricket fraternity. The 33-year-old arrived in South Africa on the back of a controversial captaincy switch in the limited-overs format, and Kohli's career as Test captain ended on a disappointing note as India conceded a 1-2 defeat to the Proteas.
However, Kohli is credited with a stupendous rise in Indian cricket – especially in the longest format of the game. No player in history has more Test caps as India captain than Kohli’s 68, while his 40 wins as captain is the most of any Indian Test player. Those 40 wins also make Kohli the fourth most successful captain in Test history, behind only Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, and Steve Waugh.
While Kohli drew curtains to a stellar career as Test captain in South Africa, another star batter endured a horrific outing as a skipper many miles away in Australia. Joe Root's England faced a 0-4 defeat in the Ashes series and speculations grew over his leadership abilities, with many former England cricketers suggesting that he should step down.
In his column for ESPNCricinfo, Australia great Ian Chappell spoke in detail about the two captains. While he called Kohli ‘very good at his job', Chappell deemed Root a ‘failure’.
"This is a tale of two cricket captains; one very good at his job and the other a failure," Chappell wrote in his column.
"There's no doubt Kohli was an exception as captain; he didn't curb his enthusiasm but he was still able to lead the Indian team to a higher level. With the capable assistance of vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, he lifted India to overseas success like no other captain had done.
"The captaincy failure, despite having led his country more times than any other captain, is Joe Root. It doesn't matter what Root or any other English devotee tells you, Root is a fine batter but a poor captain," Chappell opined.
Chappell also spoke about how Kohli enhanced the legacy of two successful Indian skippers --- Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
"Kohli took the legacy of Sourav Ganguly and Dhoni and substantially built on it in seven years at the helm. His biggest disappointment as captain was the recent series loss to South Africa after India led the away series 1-0, though he didn't captain in the middle Test of that series, in Cape Town."
