Mike Brearley led England in 22 Tests and won 18 of them while drawing four of them.
Mike Brearley is fan of Virat Kohli but the legendary England captain also feels that there’s a danger the current Indian captain might become an authoritarian figure in the dressing room.
Brearley, known as one of the intellectuals of the game, is known for his perfect captaincy record. He led England in 22 Tests and won 18 of them while drawing four of them. He’s also the author of one of the cricket’s most widely read books – ‘The Art of Captaincy’.
Brearley wants to the current England captain Joe Root to assert himself more as a leader, something Virat Kohli does well in his opinion. However, at the same time, Brearley feels that Kohli’s personality may lead him to become an authoritarian figure who isn’t open to counterpoint or suggestions.
Talking to Times of India, Brearley said, “I love watching Kohli play cricket. He is a very intelligent captain and has tremendous presence on the field. But he has so much charisma, articulacy and authority that there’s a danger of him becoming authoritarian.”
Brearley's comments come at time when there has been some questions raised at the style of leadership and management of the Indian team, specially during the ongoing series against England.
Brearley said that a captain should lead in a democratic fashion.
“He [Kohli] has got to have the capacity to tell people what to do. But if you become too authoritarian, then you are not open to other points of view. Becoming too influential can also mean that people are scared of giving you the opinion and then you don’t gather in. You need to have 11 captains in the team, just that you have to be the in-charge,” he said.
He said that Root can take some insipration from the way Kohli operates. “Having said that, I would add that Joe Root would do well to show some authority the way Kohli does. He would do well to articulate what he is looking for from his team, which I don’t know if he has done enough,” Brearley said.
When asked about the best captain Brearley termed MS Dhoni as a great ODI captain. However, he added that he was not sure about Dhoni's captaincy in Test cricket as the former Indian captain wasn't flexible enough.
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