Aadya Sharma looks at why Virat Kohli should continue to lead the India Test side, despite the impressive leadership of Ajinkya Rahane in Australia.

It’s only to be expected that for Virat Kohli, a megastar whose every move is scrutinised and decision placed under the microscope, expectations incessantly follow an upward curve. Kohli, the batsman, has already claimed legendary status, but even after six years at the helm, there’s still lingering apprehension around Kohli, the captain.

After a pandemic-hit 2020 saw very little cricket, a small portion of which belonged to the IPL (where his team Royal Challengers Bangalore remained trophy-less for the 13th year), Kohli’s captaincy, as is tradition during an away tour, became a prominent talking point. When he flew back home in December, India were in complete shambles, and Ajinkya Rahane turned out to be the messiah they desperately needed.

Rahane’s unruffled approach was the cornerstone of India’s triumph in Australia; for a man who had led India in just two Tests before the tour, to assume the role of a skipper for three-quarters of one of the biggest series going was a massive test that he admirably passed. Soon enough, Rahane was showered with garlands for shepherding a turnaround unheard of.

In the whirlpool of joy that followed, the next obvious step was juxtaposing the two deeply-contrasting captains, old and new, and trying to derive the better of the two. Not long after, Rahane slowly started emerging as the pundits’ favourite; after a win of that magnitude, many felt he couldn’t just stay ‘deputy’. And very soon, Kohli, the captain, was between the crosshairs again.

Now, Kohli might not be the most popular captain going around, but statistically, he is still one of the best. India’s most successful Test captain yet (in terms of wins), he has a lower loss percentage than Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and MS Dhoni, the four captains before him. Among captains with at least 25 Tests from all countries, only Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Kane Williamson have a better win percentage.

More than any of those numbers, Kohli’s been the face of a distinct winning mentality that that has made India a behemoth at home, and a formidable force away from it. Even at home, India have moved away from sticking to just spin-friendly tracks and nurtured a set of quick bowlers who have repeatedly produced results on sporting wickets. Breaking away from a traditionally batting-heavy approach, Kohli has, time and again, endorsed a five-bowler theory, and the result has been one of the strongest bowling attacks in India’s history. It’s a vital driving force of a team that isn’t satisfied with a podium finish but aggressively seeks gold every time they step out.

Given his stature and polarising personality, it isn’t always easy having nuanced conversations around Kohli. It’s likely to do with the general perception around him; ‘brash’ and ‘in-your-face’ are often repeated in discussions that somehow seep into his captaincy too. In comparison, Rahane’s relaxed persona represents a more genial approach, of a leader forever in control, a throwback to MS Dhoni’s much-loved ‘Captain Cool’ modus operandi. It can be difficult to digest having such an ambitious, seemingly volatile leader, snarling at his opponents and sometimes even his own teammates. Shane Lee recently suggested his Indian teammates are scared of Kohli. It isn’t a new theory.

Kohli’s captaincy isn’t the finished product yet. As pointed out by VVS Laxman, there are still cracks that need to be rectified. He tends to get defensive too quickly, some of his selection calls and in-game decision-making can be dubious, and the strong overall captaincy numbers mask his lop-sided record in SENA countries.

But, while the win in Australia was Rahane’s success, the groundwork was laid by Kohli and Ravi Shastri, the coach with whom he dovetails well. To reach where India have as a Test force, the captain-coach combination has nurtured a unilateral mentality of victory before everything. Kohli has, time and again, defended the approach – he’d rather lose a Test while trying to win, than settle for a draw. It’s a mentality that was evident in India’s series victory, a touch of which was visible in their eagerness to go at Australia in the last phase of play in Brisbane, resisting the safe option of Border-Gavaskar Trophy-retaining draw. It’s been a marked shift from a more reserved approach of the predecessors. India, who had not won a Test series in Australia in 71 years, now have two trophies just two years apart. It’s the result of an ongoing process that has had its share of crests and troughs.

“As soon as Virat left [after the first Test], it was just an extension,” Ravichandran Ashwin said in an interview after the series, “and nobody had to tell Jinks [Rahane] how things had to be operated and it was an automatic transition that happened. For me, it was an extension of what’s been happening in the last five years.”

Shastri, an equally strong force in the setup, reiterated the effect India’s full-time captain had on the team even in his absence. “You must give credit to Virat Kohli. He may not be here. He has gone back home. But his character, his personality is there for everyone to see in this team. For Ajinkya to take over the way he did was simply unreal.”

This isn’t just Kohli’s India or Rahane’s India, but a well-knit setup that is now working at something close to top gear. With Rahane, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin around him, Kohli has a strong support system in place, and leads a team that has stayed at or near the top of the Test rankings for a considerable period. There are no doubts over his ability to balance roles too: Kohli’s batting has only been lifted further by the responsibility. He has the fifth-best Test average (60.69) among all captains with 15 or more Tests, and the second-most centuries by anyone (20). There isn’t anything fundamentally wrong with the hierarchy, and breaking a perfectly functional model of over half a decade on the basis of short sample size highlights an old habit in Indian cricket, one that seeks instant results and is never quite happy with what’s in front of it.

Rahane’s recent statement was perhaps a product of his modesty, but it signifies that India’s full-time captain has the backing of his support system. “Nothing changes. Virat was and will always be the captain of the Test team and I am his deputy. When he was absent, it was my duty to lead the side and my responsibility to give my best for Team India’s success.”