How 'Sachin syndrome' traumatises captain Virat Kohli

Sachin Tendulkar has the best batting record in the world, the Mumbai maestro is no doubt a legend. However, history shows the best batsman in the team almost always makes the worst captain.

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Tendulkar's record as captain in 1997 was generally regarded as a blot on his career. The Mumbai legend won just 4 Tests and lost 9 during his captaincy, a dismal 16 per cent win-loss record. In ODIs, Sachin was no better winning just 31 per cent of the matches for India.

India at the time was in transition between the near-end of the Azhar era(which dragged on till the 1999 World Cup because there were no captaincy claimants) and the yet-to-begin Saurav, Dravid era.

Sachin at the time did not look the part and after Saurav came into the scene quickly faded as a possible captaincy candidate.

India is witnessing somewhat the same era like the 1990s, Virat Kohli is India's best batsman, he is no doubt ahead of Sachin on current form and statistics prove it, however, his captaincy skills are still debatable.

The decision to go in with four fast bowlers at the WACA when the highest wicket-taker in the first innings at Perth was Nathan Lyon, ignoring Jadeja even as it was common knowledge that rough areas would develop on the pitch, clearly the innovation of Saurav and Dhoni are missing in the current captain.

No one should blame Kohli, after all, he leads from the front and has been India's principal run-getter, in fact, statistics show his run-gathering ability has improved since he became captain of Team India.

However, critics and cricket commentators have a problem with his decision-making skills. The tactical awareness and ability to make quick "instinctive" changes have been missing in Kohli.

Kohli has been unable to solve India's "opening riddle", the team's permanent Achilles heel.

Murli Vijay has consistently let the team down away from home and KL Rahul has proved he does not have "Test ability" at the highest level. Kohli should look at the facts and move on.

Remember how Sourav upgraded Sehwag from No-6 in ODIs straight into the opening slot in Tests which at the time was considered a masterstroke.

Kohli is yet to come up with a selection masterstroke - the hallmark of a great captain.

Cricket matches, like life, are dependent on seizing the initiative, Kohli the batsman is a master at it, however, he still hasn't captured the imagination in as far as his captaincy is concerned.

Mike Brealey recently said although Kohli was brilliant as a captain but seemed "detached" and "uninvolved" during the Oval Test in the recently concluded India-England series when Team India was under the gun. It is a dangerous precedent, especially for India which has one of the worst records in world cricket while playing abroad.

Cricket is also the art of theatre, sometimes it is a platform to "out-sledge" an opponent or team, and for a captain "charisma" counts but India can ill-afford its best batsman to be concentrating on small qualities and not look at the big picture.

Remember, World Cup final is less than six months away and the world will remember Kohli not as a batsman if India fails but as a captain. A real petty!

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)