Published: Sep 08, 2018, 01:26 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 08, 2018, 01:26 PM (IST)
Mike Brearley has adviced England captain Joe Root to take a cue from his India counterpart Virat Kohli when it comes to asserting himself as a leader. However, at the same time, Brearley feels that considering Kohli’s personality, there’s a danger he might become an authoritarian figure in the dressing room who isn’t open to counterpoint.
Brearley, the former England captain, led them in 22 Tests and won 18 of them while drawing four of them. His blemish-free captaincy record speaks for itself and he’s also the author of cricket’s one of the most widely read books – ‘The Art of Captaincy’.
In the recent past, Brearley rated Kohli as the best batsman currently in the world and he’s also impressed with his leadership skills.
“I love watching him [Kohli] play cricket,” Brearley was quoted as saying by The Times of India on Saturday. “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 believes in leading in a democratic fashion, saying each member should feel confident enough to put his/her view upfront without being scared.
“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 then added 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.
