Indian Cricket has made a lot of headlines in the last few months for all the wrong reasons. The speculations over the Kohli-BCCI saga seem to have created rifts in the Indian dressing room. Recently, Kohli expressed his views on leadership at Digit’s ‘Fireside Chat with VK’, emphasizing how it is important for an individual to contribute to his team.
“Everything has a tenure and time period. You obviously have to be aware of that. People might say ‘what this guy has done’ but you know when you think of moving forward and achieving more, you feel like you have done your job.”
Kohli speaks on how Dhoni contributed even after quitting captaincy
Kohli who was the leader of the Indian cricket team across all formats till the WT20 in UAE, stepped down from captaincy after the tournament. A few weeks later, the selection committee sacked Kohli from ODI captaincy too. Rohit Sharma henceforth was appointed as India’s white-ball skipper. India lost the Test series against Proteas 1-2. Soon after India’s most successful Test leader, Kohli in a shocking move announced his decision to hang his boots as the red-ball captain. As India still looks to find a potential successor to Kohli in Tests, cricket witness the culmination of an era.
“Now as a batsman may be you have more things to contribute to the team. You can make the team win more. So take pride in that. You don’t need to be a captain to be a leader. As simple as that,” Kohli said while reflecting on his job for the team in years ahead.
Kohli also cited his predecessor MS Dhoni one of India’s greatest captains. On how the veteran played a vital role in the team’s think tank even after passing on the baton to Kohli, he said
“When MS Dhoni was in the team it was not like that he was not a leader. He was still the guy we were going to constantly to get inputs … but for him to understand that yes it is natural progression and a natural time for me to take over and take Indian cricket forward to a level that I wanted to and as long as I feel that I have done that job without having materialistic goals, that has a longer lasting effect.”
Kohli’s thoughts on change
Virat Kohli expressed his views on how important and inevitable change becomes in a system. Speaking on how moving on at the right time is the best choice one has at that point in time, he added
“Taking the decision to move on is also part of leadership to understand the right time to do it. To understand that may be the environment needs a different direction. Obviously same culture but a different set of ideas to boost people in a different way and contribute in a different manner. One has to embrace all kinds of roles and responsibilities. I have played under MS as a player and I have been the captain of the team for a long time, my mindset has been the same. I always thought like a captain even when I was a player. I want to make the team win. I have to be my own leader,”
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