Pros-cons analysis of Indian captains from the past 2 decades

Pros-cons analysis of Indian captains from the past 2 decades: Captaincy is an art to say the least. The foresaid sentence might provide a niche for this article. Indeed, we are going to sum up figures and facts of captaincy. And to be far more specific, the Indian team has been led by the likes of ecstatic leaders for the past two decades. Here, I dared to replace the word ‘captain’ by ‘leader’ because of the improvising leadership specifications of the Indian captains. Now drifting towards the topic of Indian captains, we did witness a number of sensational captains with varied strategic ploys. So without intending to demean the fame of any of the captains, here is a pro-con list of the Indian captains since the past two decades.

Mohammad Azharuddin:

Pros:

• He liked to stick to the basics which often paved the way for India’s victory. Even when his bowlers were being hit for boundaries, he opted to stick by the plans and did not opt for abrupt bowling changes.
• He had extreme faith upon his players which was highly influential to players’ performances.
• Azhar was extremely cool-headed and held his nerves in pressurizing situations.

Cons:

• Sometimes he went way too defensive in his approach and thus there were times India were inclined to lose matches due to such defensive approaches in captaincy.
• Azharuddin liked to stick to his plans and thus new and inexperienced players did not get much of an exposure to fire under his leadership.
• There were rumours that Azharuddin was slightly biased to some of the players and preferred them over others.

Sourav Ganguly:

Pros:

• ‘DADA’ was known for his aggressive attitude and his unwillingness to accept defeat. He gave India the required impetus that they could fight any opposition, no matter what’s the case.
• Under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly, India played as a ‘Team’. Indian players played with sheer team spirit (for instance, the huddle after the fall of every wicket). This amplified the energy levels to a great extent and thus helped India to dominate over the opposition.
• Ganguly gave preference to performance over experience. This made the Indian team further strengthened and a number of young guns in the likes of Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and many flourished under his leadership.

Cons:

• Sourav Ganguly was way too animated on the field and quite often indulged himself in on-field banters with the opposition. This is something least expected from a captain.
• Under his leadership, India was consistent enough but they failed to win finals of important tournaments on a number of occasions. The Indian team failed to retain their nerves on such occasions.
• For a number of times, Ganguly was penalised for slow over rates. This reflects the fact that the former Indian captain used too much time to get his tactics right.

Also Read – Top 10 Most successful captains in international Cricket

Rahul Dravid:

Pros:

• Dravid was a calm contender with adequate sporting spirit.
• Apart from being a great leader, he used to lead the batting order with his high sense of reliability. This supplemented his impact to a great extent.
• Dravid had good faith upon his players and this helped the team on occasions.

Cons:

• Dravid hardly got himself involved in team selection and almost every decision was being taken by the then coach, Greg Chappell.
• During Dravid’s days, India was found short of doing adequate homework and this was reflected by India’s despicable performance in 2007 ODI World Cup.
• During his days as a leader, due to numerous controversies regarding the exclusion of seniors, the team spirit lacked to an extent.

MS Dhoni:

Pros:

• Dhoni has been the coolest contenders of the game and this has helped India to capitalize over situations for a good number of times.
• Dhoni also possessed the quality of foreseeing situations. He is always 10 overs ahead of the match and can think accordingly. Such traits are a blessing for any team.
• Dhoni instills huge amount of support to his players and keeps on relying on them to perform. This helps to extract the best out of those players.

Cons:

• Due to some reasons, Dhoni did not find himself much comfortable leading the team in Test matches overseas.
• At times, Dhoni seemed to over rely upon players and in the process, other players were detained of the chances to play in the team.
• Sometimes in Test matches, Dhoni opted for defensive ploys which did not serve the purpose.

Virat Kohli:

Pros:

• His level of aggression is suffice gearing up the entire team for a boosted performance.
• Kohli does support his team members to a considerable extent. This binds the team together and the players prosper under such levels of support.
• Kohli has been seen to always go for wins. He doesn’t believe in taking half measures which is a real positive aspect of his captaincy.

Cons:

• It is said that excess of anything is bad. Thus, over-aggression sometimes affects the spirit of the game.
• Throughout the history of few matches, it was seen that Kohli fails to take the best of the decisions in do or die phases of the game.
• It was also seen that Kohli thinks less in taking decision and goes with the flow of the game at times.