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Kohli vs Williamson: Battle of two contrasting captaincy styles | A look at the contrasting captaincy styles of Kohli vs Williamson in the WTC Final

The finale of the World Test Championship (WTC) is going to mark the coming together of two absolutely contrasting captaincy styles in perhaps the biggest stage of the cricketing world. There have been a lot of debates over who is most profound skipper in world cricket currently.

Whether it’s Virat Kohli, who took over the reins of a thoroughly underperforming Indian team in late-2014 and transformed them into becoming actual world-beaters or Kane Williamson whose innate ability to extract the utmost potential from the players available to him put him in a unique pedestal as well.

Nevertheless, regarding off their distinct leadership qualities, there are many other differences between the ways in which the two skippers prefer to captain their sides.

Over the years, Virat hasn’t been averse to making regular changes as he deems fit according to the situation of the game. Sometimes, the call pulls off, sometimes it doesn’t, but that is just the nature of the sport. What it says is that he doesn’t mind adopting horses for courses approach if required, and hence predictability is the least possible trait that one would spot in his captaincy tenure.

On the other hand, Williamson comes across as more of someone who devises his plans early on, prepares a roadmap to move ahead with that strategy and sticks to it even after a few failrures. We aren’t here to judge which method is more plausible, especially given both these men have manages to embrace contrasting techniques and yet carry their team to this particular stage.

Moreover, the fact that Kohli and Williamson will face off against each other at this stage shows that there is place for every kind of captaincy technique in world cricket. Only, though, if you have a credible enough set of men backing you through the thick and thin with an indomitable victorious spirit in testing circumstances.

Kohli’s helm as the skipper has been even more fascinating, considering that he triggered a paradigm shift in Indian cricket with a special focus on developing a battery of terrific pace bowlers. This change has hands down been the most influential factor behind the Indian team’s remarkably improved overseas performances in recent times. A skipper is one whose vision creates the course that his teams follow.

Prior to Kohli’s reign, India never boasted of a credible, holistic pace bowling unit that could challenge the bowlers hailing from the SENA countries. Now, that factor has altered majorly, and if India were to lift the WTC trophy, then this transformation’s credit would have to be attributed majorly to Kohli.

On the other hand, Williamson has somewhat managed to break down the concept of Kiwis floundering their chances in key moments of big tournaments. His astute ability to understand the playing conditions, incredible marshaling of his bowling units and key changes in the bowling lineup towards the concluding stages of the semifinal helped the Kiwis to arguably unexpectedly defeat the Indian unit in the semis of the 2019 World Cup.

Check out CricBlog’s WTC Final coverage, including these great articles by talented writers:

• 5 areas of concern for India ahead of the WTC Final
• 3 unlikely players who can impact the WTC Final
• Opinion: New Zealand should go with this attack for the WTC Final

New Zealand’s terrific performance in the finals didn’t go unnoticed either. The world sympathized with them for a result that perhaps went against them due to arguably controversial rules and regulations. Nevertheless, the Kiwis had back then challenged the overwhelming favourites, the English side, until the very final delivery of the contest. That followed by their encouraging performances in the WTC cycle showcase that the team aren’t any pushovers in the big stage anymore.

Possibly, the key to which of these two men leads his team better rests with the one who better manages to separate their individual performance in this big encounter from that of the collective.

In addition to being the skippers, Kohli and Williamson are undoubtedly the most critical cogs in their respective batting lineups. The conditions on offer at Southampton will be challenging to say the least. To a layman, both Kohli and Williamson appear to be the best equipped to deal with the mounting difficulties that they are set to encounter soon.

Irrespective of that, both these players have donned the leader’s cap for long enough to understand and accept the challenges that come with it. The way that they express their emotions on the field might be starkly contrasting.

Yet, both the individuals boast of serious captaincy skills that perhaps even indicate that there’s no one-shoe-fits-all approach in cricket. Each person comes with his own strengths, drawbacks, builds a team around his own vision and executes plans according to what he deems to be the best at that very moment. Whether or not they deliver the desired results is another question. But the process might not be the same for everyone.

Who can explain that better that the two best test captains in the world?

Written by Tarkesh Jha. Follow Tarkesh on Twitter today.