Virat Kohli relinquished test captaincy after the series loss to South Africa. The decision caught many people by surprise but to people who understand how Kohli works, this was hardly any surprise. Deep down I also knew that Kohli would step down regardless of the outcome of the series. Why? Because he lives life his own way. He knew that his test captaincy is going to get scrutinized the moment he was sacked from ODI captaincy. He knew that the trust was over. He took the decision not under the fear that he would be sacked but for giving the BCCI an opportunity to play another captain. For BCCI to prove themselves right. Now Kohli has put the ball in the BCCI’s court. Find a better leader if you can.

Now BCCI will be in a spot of bother. They have to search a leader now. And their search revolves largely around Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah. As much as I am a fan of Rohit Sharma, I don’t think he is fit to be a test captain. Even his place in the playing eleven is contentious. He still has to prove himself as a test batsman and the kind of reckless shots he gets himself out through still poses questions on his evolution as a test batsman. He still appears naïve with his short selection let alone the technical shortcomings that he seems to have minimized but not completely overcome. In a nutshell, Rohit barely qualifies in the playing eleven. KL Rahul on the other hand seems to be riding high on good form, but captaincy is for people who have a proven track record. KL Rahul is enjoying an uptrend and he still has a long way to go before he wins the confidence that a country can place in a leader. Bumrah, let’s just say is a very good bowler, but captaincy “nah”.

What is the trouble for BCCI?

Regardless of how differently people want to read the decision of Virat kohli’s stepping down from captaincy, what is obvious is the fact that the relation between Virat Kohli and the BCCI has touched an unprecedented low. And that all the drama around Virat Kohli’s sacking led to this decision. Virat is not someone who takes things lying down. The moment he realized that his captaincy is not appreciated, he resigned.

What is up for the next captain?

It is trouble and a great opportunity. Whenever there is a leadership change, the new leader is expected to turn things around; more so when the change is so chaotic. The new leader has to do what Virat has failed to do and it’s so little that Virat has failed. That’s where the problem lies. The problem is that the decision to replace Virat Kohli as captain is doomed to fail as there is no one that is currently better than him. Now if under the new leadership, the team falters particularly overseas, BCCI will have to do some serious digging to find some saving grace. BCCI seemed to have hinted that the trouble lies with the captaincy and Kohli has given them an opportunity to fix it if they can.

Is the decision good for Indian cricket?

Absolutely not. At present Kohli is the only right person to lead the team in test cricket. With him gone, it’s just a compromise that we are making, and hope things turn out to be better. There is no logic, no metric that suggests replacing Kohli with anyone in test cricket as a captain can turn things around. If that happens, it is pure luck. Am not saying Kohli is irreplaceable, all that am simply saying is that he is the best. And you can sure replace the best, but it comes with a cost, and its not only BCCI that has to pay the price, it’s Indian Cricket too.

Also, read Virat Kohli and Ganguly Saga