Internet Desk: Former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith made a controversial comment on Tuesday that Virat Kohli might not be a long-term option as captain of the Indian team after the World No.1 Test side lost the second Test in Centurion and series against hosts South Africa last week.
“I don’t know, when I look at him, if he is a long-term captaincy option for India,” Smith said during an event ahead of the 3rd and final Test at the Wanderers. The left-hand batsman of his time Smith feels that Kohli needed to take all his teammates along with him. “You can be the best player in the world, and you love that intensity and you often don’t think what your team-mates are going through,” added Smith.
Smith feels that there is nobody in the dressing room who can challenge Kohli’s decision and the team might do well in South Africa if there was a opposing view during the first two Tests.
“I think if he had a really constructive person in his environment, who could talk to him, make him think, maybe even challenge him with some different ideas, in a constructive way, not an angry or aggressive way, but make him think, open his eyes to other possibilities, that would make him a really good leader,” Smith said.
The former opener also said that Kohli’s reactions on the field could also put negative impact on the other players of the team.
“[But] often his reaction to situations… I think that can sometimes impact on your team negatively. We all know how powerful Virat Kohli is in world cricket, in Indian cricket. For him, he’s built this aura and for him maybe to find a level where he can connect with all his players, to get to a level where can get the Indian team to be as successful as he is, that’s something that he, when I watch him, is grappling with,” he added.
Smith further added that Indian team management needed to assess whether Kohli had too much on his plate.
“At the end of this year, he’d have been away from home for a while, the pressure he’ll face, the scrutiny from the press – I know he only gets that in India – but if you’re away from home and you’re struggling for form as a team, I don’t know if I’d want to burden Virat Kohli with that… Or if India have a better leader in that environment,” he said.
The Men in Blue would want to avoid a 3-0 whitewash in the Test series tomorrow as they will face South Africa for the third and final Test at Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.