Virat Kohli Is A Good Skipper, But His Captaincy Is Still A Work In Progress

On more than one occasion during the tense fourth ODI, Virat Kohli's overall control over the situation and the game seemed just a fraction amiss.

Any cricket captain has to be a supreme orchestrator when his team is on the field, juggling multiple options, revamping plans on the go and dealing swiftly with bad cards as they reveal themselves.

With bat in hand, Kohli is all of these things and more, a composed plunderer of runs who is adroit at reading match situations and capable of mathematical precision in his shot selection.

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As batsman, Kohli is so perfect, so devoid of doubt, that he has spoiled us. As captain, sometimes he still comes across as merely human, like he did on Sunday night as Australia inched closer and closer to the fifth-highest successful case in ODI history and India's fielding and bowling fell apart in the heavy dew.

To Kohli's consternation, there were at least five botched chances between the 39th and 47th overs, with a thoroughly ordinary Rishabh Pant being guilty of three of those behind the stumps. The captain was also missing the usual tactical thrusts from regular wicketkeeper MS Dhoni, and would have realized he had grossly underestimated the impact of the evening dew while deciding to bat first at the toss.

The end result, not for the first time in his captaincy career, was what seemed to be a momentary flailing at the umpires and the world in general. This was especially apparent in the 44th over when Turner was taking the game away fast from India.

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Chahal bowled a wide and India reviewed for the caught behind. The umpires checked for a stumping first, much to Kohli's chagrin, and though a spike was later spotted, the ball had passed the bat and the wide stayed. All this while, an argumentative Kohli kept gesticulating and confronting the umpires.

The manner of India's slide after setting such a lofty target may have been hard to come to grips with, as was evident in Kohli's complaints over the DRS later.

A strident supporter of the Decision Review System in the past, he railed against it after the game. "The DRS call was a bit of a surprise for all of us. It's becoming more of a talking point every game. It's just not consistent at all, and that was a game-changer moment."

However, unlike the other incident Kohli talked about, when there was a genuine error in the ball-tracking system as Aaron Finch was given out LBW in Ranchi, this time there was no slip-up from the DRS. It simply wasn't a caught behind.

Earlier too, the third ball of the 31st over from Kedar Jadhav had elicited similar reaction from the skipper as Australia reviewed Dharmasena's decision to give Khawaja out LBW.

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The ball, as it turned out, was missing the stumps by a long way, and the incredulity on Kohli's face as he talked to the umpire betrayed his frustrations.

"Bit of a harsh pill to swallow," Kohli said after the defeat. "The controllable we had to do right, and we didn't do it right, and the opportunity slipped away."

In tense and edgy match situations, there is often no place for petulance or confusion. Leaders need to be at peace with the decisions they make, good or bad. Should Kohli try to mask his emotions more on the field? Or is it okay for a captain to wear his heart on his sleeve, to betray emotion and frustration in tense match situations?

The unruffled Dhoni has, in the past, set stiff standards, and a look around at international captains reveals the presence of many cool heads. Kohli thrives on a more aggressive, confrontational mode of captaincy which he feels has its place. Often, it doesn't make for a pretty picture, but this wasn't the first and may not be the last time we see the Indian captain close to blowing his top on the field.