‘Purely to preserve the longevity of Virat Kohli’: Tom Moody has his say on split captaincy in Team India

Kohli has already become the Indian captain with most Test wins under his belt and his win rate of above 70 percent in ODIs is ahead of the rest by a mile. He although has captained far less number of matches than the likes of Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly and Mohammed Azharuddin.

 

Agencies:Virat Kohli has led Indian cricket across all formats from the beginning of 2017. He was appointed Test captain in 2015 after MS Dhoni retired from the five-day format and took over in white ball cricket after Dhoni stepped down from the position in January 2017.

Kohli has already become the Indian captain with most Test wins under his belt and his win rate of above 70 percent in ODIs is ahead of the rest by a mile. He although has captained far less number of matches than the likes of Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly and Mohammed Azharuddin.

India has won a lot under Kohli in all formats including a maiden Test series win in Australia. But there have been disappointments too. Test series losses in South Africa, England and New Zealand means the team is yet to dominate outside the sub-continent. Losses in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy final and the 2019 ICC World Cup semi-final means he is yet to win a global trophy as captain.

In the midst of all this though Kohli the batsman has grown from strength to strength. Along with Kohli, India’s limited overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma too has grown into one of the best openers in the world. His credentials as a captain in the IPL and successes with the Indian team as a stand-in captain has prompted many people to talk about the possibility of split captaincy.

Former Sri Lanka and Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody was asked about his opinion on the matter during a conversation with eminent cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz.

Moody was open to the idea of split captaincy for India as he thought it could increase Virat Kohli’s longevity in international cricket.

 “On the [split] captaincy, it really depends. Like for England, Eoin Morgan is not a Test player, he has been, but he is not recognised as a Test player, he is a specialist white-ball cricketer. So it works for them pretty easily, it’s a natural transition.”

He further pointed out, “With India’s example, which is probably the most high profile example, the only reason I would consider split captaincy there is purely to preserve the longevity of Virat Kohli. Virat Kohli is a superstar, we all know that. And he is an absolute delight to watch, to compete, as a captain and as a batsman.

 “But if you took the white-ball captaincy away from him, for instance, the question and discussion should be can we have this special talent for longer? Because the role of the captain in three formats in any country is a significant role, but in India, it’s another league,” Moody said.

He added, “It’s a completely different pressure. And I would be concerned that if Kohli maintains all the three captaincy roles, are we losing two-three years of international cricket from one of the game’s greatest-ever players?”