Indian selectors have announced the 15-member squad for the ODI tour of Sri Lanka in July-August and by the look of the team, it does give the impression that Indian selectors are done resting senior pros as except for batting great Sachin Tendulkar all the other superstars will board the plane to Sri Lanka. The selectors have also made a bold move of keeping Virat Kohli as the vice-captain of the Indian team. There were talks before that with the return of Virender Sehwag, Kohli, who was the second-in-command for the Asia Cup, may lose his position to his senior Delhi-pro. But selectors have kept their faith in Kohli and that does make sense. Kohli is considered to be the future captain of India and he should be groomed properly before he takes one of the most difficult jobs in the country.

A good decision

Virender Sehwag and for that matter Gautam Gambhir have already had a taste of the position. They know the pressure of the position and what is expected from them, but for Kohli it is a new experience. Kohli still has a lot of time in his hands and naming him the vice-captain will give him that sense of responsibility which he requires at this stage of his career.

Sehwag and Gambhir on the other hand are fighting for a position as the captain of the team with MS Dhoni. All these players are almost in the same age group and have seen almost everything that the game has to offer. There have been talks of replacing MS Dhoni. But that debate can also be put to rest because one’s fate should not be decided on the basis of 2-3 series. Dhoni is one of the best Indian captains of all time and he still has it in him to get India back on the winning streak.

Coming back to Virat Kohli, vice-captaincy can do a lot of good to his cricket. Kohli has already said that he is an aggressive character and is not willing to curb his aggression, but he also said that he shouldn’t cross the line and the responsibility of being the vice-captain might just help him in that.

Kohli has shown in the past that he can get carried away while batting and has the habit of playing a bad-stroke to get out. But once he has the responsibility of something bigger than his batting, he might just get rid of that habit.

Kohli also likes to be in the thick of action and he thrives in those situations. Being the second-in-command will definitely bring the best out of this young lad.

And the most important reason is that Kohli has said that he likes taking advice from MS Dhoni and it will be good for him if he learns the art of captaincy from the man who he respects so much. India has seen one very successful captain-vice captain partnership between Ganguly and Dravid and we might be in for another partnership of that sort between Dhoni and Kohli. 

By Gaurav Jha
Indian Sports News Network