Team culture can remain consistent if one captain is appointed across all formats : John Buchanan

By BIPIN DANI

Australia’s John Buchanan is considered to be the most successful coach. His views have been sought when Virat Kohli has decided to step down from the T-20I captaincy after the World Cup and the Indian team is set to have different captains in white and red ball formats.

Here’s what he has to say on split captaincy :-

Firstly, my view is that if you can have a captain across all formats, it is easier for the team culture to remain consistent.

However, to do so requires a support staff that is geared for longform (Tests) and short form (ODI&T20).

That is, below the head coach whom I believe should be similar to the captain, i.e. in charge and across all formats, there should be support teams dedicated to the different formats.

Ric Charlesworth was the first coach of whom I was aware with the Australian women’s hockey team in late 90’s early 2000’s who experimented successfully with a ‘field of captains.

That is while the rules dictated there needed to be a formal captain for each game, he made sure that every player was a leader in the team, and not rely on the captain or the coach for decision making.

I experimented in KKR in 2009 with a similar notion, ie McCullum was nominated captain due to the rules of the tournament with Hodge, Gayle, Ganguly as the leadership team. It did not work for a range of reasons.

In Kohli’s case, he is in the best position to know how much the triple captaincy role is affecting his love for the game, the time he has to prepare for each game and each format, his mindset going into each series and indeed each game, and his family time.

If all these factors are weighing heavily upon him, then he may need to make a choice to relinquish part of the captaincy.

If he chooses to do so, then he needs to know that he can feel comfortable in himself and in his role when not in control of a team on the field.

He needs to know that the person who takes over the captaincy is one with whom he is compatible both as a leader and the type of cricket Rohit Sharma (if it is to be him) wants to play.

If the two captains can work as one, albeit across different formats, and the support staff are geared to prepare both teams for each captain, then there is no reason why India’s performances cannot continue.