Musical Indian 'Vice-Captains' ?

[icyman]

Once again, we find an Indian selection meeting ending in annointing a new vice-captain for the cricket team. Just a few months ago, we had Virat Kohli deputising for MSD for the Asia Cup and the current SRL series.

After yesterday's meet, Gautam Gambhir finds himself back in the seat. In the link here, we can see that Gambhir will be donning a new [rather not so new] responsibility again. So, what is exactly on the selectors minds ? Give Gambhir a larger role from now on seeing as MSD has publicly floated his desire to step down from the team post 2013.

Who will be a better captain for India ? Gambhir or Kohli or anyone else that may be thrown up in the next few months.

 

[SaiSrini]

Is Gambhir the vice captain of both the test and the T20 side again? Looks like the stakes are back in his favor after KKR won the IPL this year. They wanted to move him away, but him leading KKR to victory has forced the selectors and the BCCI to give him the post.

They should have continued with Kohli. No need to butter up Gambhir. Let him continue as a player. Kohli is going to be the future captain. Gambhir is the same age as Dhoni, and at best he can be a stop gap captain like how Kumble used to be. Kohli can learn as much as possible as vice captain, and can take over once Dhoni han

 

[Epic]

Does it really matter? A vice-captains role is one that just plays back up to the captain when needed, doesn't seem all that important to me.

 

[Fenil]

Does it really matter? A vice-captains role is one that just plays back up to the captain when needed, doesn't seem all that important to me.

It does matter. A vice-captain is always chit-chatting with the players and trying to motivate them. Give his inputs as and when needed and takes over when captain is out of the field for some reason but for these of course you need to have a good connection (rapport) between the captain and his deputy otherwise the things can go from bad to worse.

 

[icyman]

Does it really matter? A vice-captains role is one that just plays back up to the captain when needed, doesn't seem all that important to me.

No, its much more than that. Carrying on from where Fenil left, the players also need to know who is next in line. It makes the progression much easier. Rahul Dravid served as an excellent deputy to Ganguly.

My feeling is that Gambhir will soon be given the Test captaincy and we may see him lead us in ODIs for some time. Kohli will then be asked to learn certain skills before giving him the top job.

 

[angryangy]

I think naming a permanent Vice Captain is a waste of time, more something to take away as punishment than anything of real value. Of course it's handy to have a backup captain, but it's not necessary to be a formal role, not when you have a "leadership group" of senior players who know the ins and outs of the team and get to do their own pressers regardless of whether they're VC or not.

 

[icyman]

Not having a formal vice-captain can create issues in the team. Supposing that in a particular series MSD is injured and Kohli deputises. And in the second one Gambhir deputises.

The style of captaincy differs from person to person and you really dont want a new deputy every now and then.

 

[sifter132]

I agree with angry. Vice-captaincy is a bit an antiquated notion in my book. I mean we had David Warner as vice-captain for crying out loud last summer, and there's no way he'd be permanent captain. I think it's more of a 'we want to mark this guy as someone to respect' type of appointment. The dressing room knows who the senior players and leaders are, they don't need some formal appointment so they know who captains for 5 minutes when the guy needs to have a crap. Although I guess in India's case it may be a little more important, Dhoni gets suspended for bad over rates often enough

There are other vice-captains who've been named but were never really in the running to captain, I think of Ian Healy who was vice captain ahead of Steve Waugh and Shane Warne - both of whom were the 'chosen' successors.

 

[icyman]

The Aussies did have Healy and Gilchrist ,but somehow they feel that having a wicket-keeper as a captain is not a great idea. Thats probably the reason why they missed out. As for Warne, he was booted out on non-cricketing grounds.

 

[Satan666]

The Aussies did have Healy and Gilchrist ,but somehow they feel that having a wicket-keeper as a captain is not a great idea. Thats probably the reason why they missed out. As for Warne, he was booted out on non-cricketing grounds.

Not necessary I believe in the case of both Healy and Gilchrist they were too old to be handed the full-time captaincy at the time since they were close to retirement.

 

[SaiSrini]

In India, the role of the vice captain is different from what Australia or other countries might follow. IMHO, its a post that gives that particular player a bigger sense of responsibility and also it spreads the feeling among the group that this player is going to be the front runner for the big post when the current captain is either indisposed or has to vacate that spot. Playing a game of musical chairs with it is not good. Anyways Kohli is going to be the future captain and if he was initially given the VC post, why take it away from him when he has done nothing wrong (in fact he has continued blazing with the bat)? Just because Gambhir led KKR to victory in the IPL means Gambhir is back in reckoning for the vice captaincy post?

Good that this selection panel's term has ended. But considering our past history, I won't bet on the new selection panel to be any different.

 

[icyman]

Well, this selection panel has played with this post a lot. From Yuvraj-Sehwag-Gambhir-Kohli, its been maddening. Lets hope Amarnath[widely tipped] can do differently.

 

[angryangy]

In India, the role of the vice captain is different from what Australia or other countries might follow. IMHO, its a post that gives that particular player a bigger sense of responsibility and also it spreads the feeling among the group that this player is going to be the front runner for the big post when the current captain is either indisposed or has to vacate that spot.

My point is just that whatever it means is some pretentious fluff that it should not be, whether it's anointing a future leader or just filling a gap until the next future leader comes along. You know what I mean: "a sense of responsibility" is different from actual responsibility. In practice VC is one of the least critical positions to fill, but it makes such good press. If it wasn't treated as a big deal, there wouldn't be so much pressure to pick the right person for it.