WTC Trophy a Chance for Virat Kohli to Distinguish His Captaincy Legacy From MS Dhoni

The late Peter Roebuck’s book “In it to win it” on Australian cricket’s supremacy over the decades is a fascinating read to understand how a formidable cricket legacy is built through its leaders. In one of the earliest chapters, the venerable cricket writer, Roebuck makes some compelling observation which may still find resonance in Indian cricket when we talk about the leadership of Virat Kohli.

“By appointing a captain from the elite, cricket was merely reflecting its times. Despite the claims made on its behalf, the sport has seldom been at the forefront of progressive thought. In those days it was regarded as essential that leadership is left in the hands of those born to lead,” wrote Roebuck. Times and a lot may have changed in Indian cricket due to a special MS Dhoni era and yet when Kohli was chosen as his successor, he was doubtless the elitist Indian cricketer of his time and was naturally looked upon as someone who was born to lead.

Of course, Kohli has surpassed Dhoni on many fronts (at least statistically) as far as Test captaincy goes but the question remains whether his legacy is as assured as Dhoni’s is because of the latter’s multiple global trophies in white-ball cricket. In that context, perhaps Kohli’s legacy could be significantly dependent on the result of the World Test Championship final in June against New Zealand.

Incidentally, Kohli’s emergence as a talented cricketer came to the fore in a global tournament like the ICC Under-19 World cup in 2008 in Malaysia. Thirteen years later, Kohli is on the verge of creating history for the national team in Test cricket if he manages to win the cup. Regardless of the final outcome, the Indian captain will be the first-ever cricketer to feature in all ICC global finals, the moment he goes for toss in Southampton on 18th June.

As an under- 19 captain, Kohli won his first global trophy and subsequently also featured in India’s ODI World Cup triumph in 2011. Two years later, he was also part of the victorious Champions Trophy team in 2013. Kohli also played the final of T20 World Cup in 2014. However, all the final appearances for Kohli in all the major tournaments of the world with the senior team came under the leadership of Dhoni. Although, Kohli as captain seemingly had a golden opportunity to reach the final of the 2019 ODI World Cup, but Kane Williamson’s side defeated India in the semi-final. Now, Kohli will have an old score to settle against Williamson in the same country, although in a different format in which arguably is a more important game.

The challenge of eclipsing the Dhoni era?

This is going to be the ultimate Test for Kohli and many of his senior teammates. Already, the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Umesh Yadav have publicly stated that the WTC is indeed the equivalent of a World Cup trophy. For the Test captain Kohli, this will be a great moment to come out from the iconic shadow of Dhoni. “(Allan) Border and his men took their first steps on that path in India in 1987. Ever since, the challenge of eclipsing the Chappell era has been powerful if unspoken motivating force in Australian cricket. After all, most players have grown up hearing about little else,” argued Roebuck in his book highlighting the impact of a World Cup win in the subcontinent and how it changed the course of discussion when it came to the Australian ascendency in cricket. In the same way, can it be argued that like Kohli most of his teammates too have grown up hearing the title-trophies accomplishments by Dhoni, and the challenge of eclipsing the Dhoni era could be powerful if unspoken motivating force for Kohli?

WTC final win can fill the void of a desperate validation?

No one has won more Test matches than Kohli in Indian cricket. In fact, his CV in red-ball cricket is as good as some of the iconic captains like Clive Lloyd, Ricky Ponting, and Graeme Smith. While Lloyd and Ponting are multiple-world cup winners in ODI format besides being highly successful in Test matches, Smith took South Africa to number one in ICC rankings as well as accomplishing some staggering feats as Test captain. Kohli’s case is slightly different. Kohli only has one Australia Test series win as an outstanding achievement and once Rahane won the series Down Under with a relatively depleted side against a far skillful Australians, Kohli needs something singularly extraordinary which will distinguish him from all the Test captains. What else is better than becoming the first captain to lift the trophy in the first-ever Test World cup final?

“Border was a players’ player, involved in every ball, relieved in victory, raging against defeat, fighting against everything that blocked his path including umpires, selectors, opponents, reporters, and commentators. Certainly, he was single-minded and, sometimes, bad-tempered,” writes Roebuck eloquently in his assessment of a captain who is unarguably not only one of Australia’s greatest ever captains but is indisputably an all-time great captain of the world. Kohli of course has never been compared with Border yet most of the words used by Roebuck are ring true for the present-day Kohli as well.

In white-ball cricket, it is still an arduous task to match the formidable legacy of Dhoni. Perhaps, the best Kohli can do is to carve his own niche. To create his own legacy. Like another proud captain Sourav Ganguly in the past, Kohli from the very beginning of his Test captaincy has emphasised the need to win consistently on away tours. Without saying in as many words, Kohli somehow managed to convey that he was clearly aware of what needs to be achieved to come out from the larger-than-life shadow of Dhoni. If Kohli manages to win the WTC final against New Zealand, it may distinguish his legacy from his highly accomplished predecessor in the same way when Kapil Dev won India’s first world cup trophy in 1983 and came out from the shadow of Sunil Gavaskar’s leadership

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