3 reasons why Shane Warne's comments on Virat Kohli's career make sense
Australian legend Shane Warne recently empathized with Virat Kohli, stating he had a really difficult job as captain of the Indian team across all three formats. According to Warne, since the 33-year-old is no longer the leader in any of the three versions, he can focus solely on his batting.
Speaking to the Hindustan Times, the former Aussie leg-spinner stated:
"There is just so much expectation. It’s so difficult to be captain of India in all forms of the game and then play the IPL as well. Everyone looks for him to comment, to be the leader so I’m looking forward to watching Virat bat now. Get someone else to take the captaincy, let someone else do all that and allow Virat getting back to being the best in the world.”
Admitting that he was a little surprised with Kohli’s decision to quit the Test captaincy, Warner added that he now has a great opportunity to go back and prove to himself and everyone why he is the best batter in the world. He also hopes the former India captain can start scoring hundreds again.
Warne spot on in his observations on Kohli
In the wake of Warne’s comments on the former India captain and his leadership, we take a look at three reasons why his observations make sense.
#1 India need Kohli the batter more than the captain
If India have to choose between Kohli the batter and Kohli the captain, they should surely pick the former. There is no doubt that the 33-year-old has been one of the standout leaders in Indian cricket, and statistically one of the best. However, over the last couple of years, his batting has taken a hit. As known to every Indian cricket fan by now, the star batter hasn’t scored an international hundred since November 2019.
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With two World Cups in different formats coming up - the T20 World Cup 2022 and the 2023 50-over World Cup - India need Kohli the batter to be at his very best. A captain, as it is often said, is only as good as his team. Kohli was winning games for India even before becoming skipper, so it is all about him finding his mojo with the willow again.
#2 Leading across formats clearly had worn him out
In the wake of India’s disastrous showing in the ODIs in South Africa, a lot of critics claimed that the unceremonious sacking of Kohli impacted the team. The experts were right in their observation. However, most would agree that the decision per se was the right one. It was the manner in which it was executed that was the issue.
Undoubtedly, Kohli has been a great leader, captaining the team across all formats over the past few years. At the same time, it is equally true that leading day in and day out has taken its toll on the cricketer both as a leader and as a batter. The time had thus come for India to move on to the next captain.
While KL Rahul failed to impress as leader in South Africa, India also lost the Test series under Kohli as skipper. Even in the T20 World Cup, he did not look in command as India had a disastrous campaign. The bio-bubble factor hadn’t helped his cause. All said and done, Kohli's stint as captain was bound to end.
#3 He can start afresh as a batter and concentrate on scoring big again
Warne has asserted that minus the burden of captaincy, Kohli has a wonderful opportunity to get back to scoring big runs and hundreds, like he did at his peak. Yes, the former skipper must be hurting a bit after he was sacked from ODIs in a controversial manner. He made the same clear in no uncertain terms ahead of the press conference for the South Africa tour.
However, Kohli must look to put beyond everything that has happened in the last couple of months and start afresh as a batter. Captaincy is no longer his headache and so he can completely focus his powers on batting. If he can succeed in scoring big runs again consistently, he will automatically aid the new skipper in a massive way.
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It definitely won’t be easy for Kohli. He looked good in the ODI series against South Africa but failed to convert fifties into hundreds, something he was a master at during his peak. It would be unfair to expect the batter to achieve those lofty heights again. But even if regains 70 percent of his original batting prowess, he can make a significant impact on the fortunes of Indian cricket in the near future.