Ian Chappell's Hard Talk: Virat Kohli A Successful Captain, Joe Root Epitome Of Poor Leadership

Former Australian Test captain Ian Chappell has praised Virat Kohli's leadership enthusiasm and passion to push for success in Test cricket.

Aditya Kumar

Updated on: 1 February 2022 8:18 am

Virat Kohli's (L) record as India's Test captain has been one of the best.

Former Australian captain Ian Chappell has termed Virat Kohli a successful Test skipper, while he was extremely critical of Joe Root’s captaincy in the format. Meanwhile, Chappell also feels that Root’s deputy in Test, Stuart Broad “lacks understanding of cricket captaincy”. (More Cricket News)

While Virat Kohli stepped down from India’s Test captaincy after losing the series 2-1 in South Africa, Joe Root-led England suffered a 4-0 Ashes debacle in Australia.

Kohli called time on his captaincy career in the longest format with a total of 40 wins under his belt from the 68 games he captained the side, which makes him the most successful Test captain of India. Root, on the other hand, has led England in 61 Tests, winning 27 and losing 25 of them.

“One of Kohli's great achievements was instilling in his team a craving for Test cricket. Despite his all-encompassing success, Kohli's major aim was to achieve victory in the Test arena and this is where his passion really shone,” said Chappell in his column for ESPNCricinfo.

When he led India in Test, Virat Kohli enjoyed a sensational batting average of 54.80, which is better than his own average of 50.39 when he wasn't the captain.

Apart from lauding Kohli for showing faith in Rishabh Pant’s caliber, Chappell was also impressed with Kohli’s batting form as captain of India in Test.

'ROOT, A FAILURE'?

Meanwhile, Joe Root too scored his runs at 46.35 while batting as captain of England. He is also the the most successful Test captain of England in terms of wins in the format, but Chappell feels that Root is a “failure” as captain in terms of making decisions.

Chappell called Root an “epitome of poor leadership, compounded by bad luck”.

“The captaincy failure, despite having led his country more times than any other captain, is Joe Root. It doesn't matter what Root or any other English devotee tells you, Root is a fine batter but a poor captain,” said Chappell.

Adding that Root was “never going to be a successful leader”, Chappell said that the ICC Test Cricketer of 2021 lacks imagination in his captaincy and quickly runs out of ideas.

“The real killer were his tactics: they often made no sense,” Chappell said.