Kohli Quits: Read between the lines

And why this could never work in women's cricket

When talking about Virat Kohli’s decision to quit T20 captaincy after the T20 World Cup, I’m hearing references to Tim Paine-Aaron Finch and Joe-Root Eoin Morgan. But those pairs aren’t really comparable. They don’t play under the other, like Kohli will under Rohit Sharma. And Rohit will under Kohli. 

The nearest comparison is closer to home: The Indian women’s team has had split captaincy since 2016, when Harmanpreet Kaur was handed the reins of the T20I side, and Mithali Ra continued to lead the ODI side. At the time I assumed it was a clear succession plan, and after the 2017 World Cup, Harmanpreet would lead full time. Maybe that was the plan. And then maybe Mithali’s decision to play on after the successful 2017 World Cup -which she had suggested would be her last- changed things. Either ways, split captaincy continued, with the pair playing under each other, creating two distinct power centers in the team. That equation erupted in the well documented fiasco after the 2018 T20 World Cup. 

Which is one reason why I am skeptical of split captaincy that involves the non-captains playing the the XI too, but in the case of Kohli and Rohit, I think it could work. Women’s cricket is a different ball-game, and calendar. There are so few matches across the year that split captaincy means creating competition to impress in limited opportunities. A place of scarcity, doubled by splitting captaincy.

Men’s cricket though is so non-stop, that there is enough to go around. The calendar is vast enough and the culture mature enough to accomadate personalities as strong as Kohli and Rohit. And there’s the IPL on top of everything, providing ample opportunities to lead teams even if one feels limited in internationals. 

That’s one reason why I think split captaincy will work for India. 

I wrote this piece for Hindustan Times about what Kohli’s announcement says, and what it tells us without saying. 

(It’s not paywalled, you can skip the registration)

Photo of the week (trying something new here. Like it?):

This is from the recording session of a as yet unreleased project. Hopefully it will be out during the IPL! I’m so excited for it!

Song of the week :

Armor, by Sara Bareilles.

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=6aFznkluaIU&feature=share

“You think I’m high and mighty mister?

Wait till you meet my little sister.”