ENG vs IND 2018: Virat can get too authoritarian with his captaincy at times, says Mike Brearley

Brearley has been a huge admirer and keen observer of Virat Kohli.

Brearley thinks Virat can be too authoritarian with his captaincy. | Getty

Former England captain Mike Brearley has said that he feels Indian Captain Virat Kohli is one of the delights of our sport but the 29-year-old can often come across as "too authoritarian" on the field for his liking. 

Brearley, who captained 31 Tests for England and is considered one of the better leaders to have played the game, questioned whether other players in the squad feel free enough to give their opinion against the word of Virat in decision making for the Indian team. 

Talking to Times of India about the matter, Brearley was quoted saying, "I love watching him (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."

"He 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 added. 

But still, Brearley likes certain aspects of Kohli's inspiring captaincy and he infact wants Joe Root to learn and bring in those qualities in the way he goes about managing his own side.

He further added, "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," 

"Captaincy needs to be fairly intuitive. You can talk to some. You can talk to somebody else and try to figure out what happens in his mind." 


(Inputs from Cricket Next)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 08 Sep, 2018

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