3 things Sarfaraz Ahmed can learn from Virat Kohli to become a better captain

Captaining a team is always a tough job for any player and needless to say, a tricky one too. Not only are you expected to lead your team to unspeakable wins, but also bear the brunt of some crushing losses. Being a captain is not everyone’s cup of tea and in countries like India, Australia and Pakistan where Cricket is followed widely, the Captain of the team is viewed as everything and the margin of error decreases even further.

What happened to the likes of Steve Smith and David Warner after a ball-tampering scandal is witnessed by many and this is the kind of impact, a captain’s wrong behaviour can have on a country.

This topic has come into the limelight, even more, following India’s exhilarating performances overseas in recent times and Pakistan’s dismal show at home as well as away, especially in Tests. Naturally, the credit for the wins goes to the captain and the same person is blamed for the losses. It’s no different for Pakistan’s Sarfaraz Ahmed who has been under the radar for a while and Pakistan’s recent losses in South Africa haven’ helped his case either.

While Virat Kohli has been near flawless with his captaincy record, Sarfaraz needs to learn from him fast to keep his position in the squad. Following Virat’s footsteps might not be a very bad idea and can actually do a world of good for the Pakistani skipper who has been banned for making racial comments in South Africa.

Here we take a look at three things which Sarfaraz should learn from Kohli:

3. Respond only when provoked

A few years back when Kohli was still in his early days in International Cricket, one must’ve seen him as an aggressive lad with almost zero control over his emotions but what stood out the most was, despite being aggressive by nature, he only replied and showed his emotions when he was provoked.

He never crossed a line apart from showing the middle finger to the Australian spectators and that too long ago. Ever since taking over as the Indian team, Virat Kohli has completely transformed himself and is leading from the front by a fair margin. He has toned down his aggression tremendously and is a true leader. Maturity is the only word with which one can explain Kohli’s rise over the years, as a captain and as a player as well.

Sarfaraz, on the other hand, has nothing going his way at the moment. His team was whitewashed by South Africa in the recently concluded Test series and to add to it, Pakistan was beaten comprehensively in the second ODI in which the captain was heard making racial comments against Andile Phehlukwayo. If there’s one thing that separates Sarfaraz from his Indian counterpart, it’s the ability to not get involved in unnecessary controversies.

Virat Kohli is also known to let his bat do the talking whenever the opposition tries to bring him down and Sarfaraz, being the captain of the side is expected to lead from the front, something that he hasn’t been able to do on a consistent basis in his captaincy stint so far. The 31-year-old should learn how to control his emotions on the field which Kohli has managed to do over the years.