Australian great Ian Chappell has found Virat Kohli to be an exceptional captain who has carried the Indian team to a higher level and considered England’s Joe Root a “fine batter but poor captain”.
Kohli, who recently relinquished captaincy after India lost a Test series to the weakest-ever South African team, was sacked as ODI skipper prior to that.
He pointed out the contrasts in Kohli and Root’s styles of captaincy and its corresponding efficacy, but few observations made by Chappell could be debated, including the one where he singularly attributed the “development of Rishabh Pant” to the former India captain.
“This is a tale of two cricket captains; one very good at his job and the other a failure,” Chappell wrote in his column for ESPNCricinfo.
“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,” Chappell opined.
In the case of Root, he was as blunt as any Aussie would ever be when it came to judging an English cricketer.
“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,” his assessment of Root was scathing.
Chappell 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.”
