Skippers should know better

Virat Kohli was guilty of a minor transgression of the code of conduct in walking up to his girlfriend for a chat during a rain break in an IPL cricket match. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was guilty of an infraction regarding criticising an umpiring decision in public and he was docked the appropriate fine. Both incidents were not serious breaches. The point is Dhoni is the limited-overs captain and Kohli had just succeeded him as the Test captain. As the leaders of Indian cricket, they should have been setting a better example.

As India’s Test captain, Kohli should introspect over his on-field behaviour record, which bristles with transgressions more serious than the time he spent with his girl. Truth to tell, he has been guilty on various counts of putting himself in the firing line. A player like him is bound to be fiercely competitive and hence extremely intense on the field. Since the captaincy has been handed to him, Kohli must think about how he can emulate his predecessor Dhoni who is known as “Captain Cool”.
Dhoni is very much the senior pro in the Indian cricket set-up today. Normally, he is not given to commenting controversially on events on the field. Maybe it was the disappointment of having lost a game that saw him trash an umpire’s decision while on air just after the game. He has accepted he was at fault. The point is both players should have known better.