New Delhi (Nilesh Tiwari): England white-ball captain Jos Buttler resigned on Friday in a way that served to validate a truism that applies to all: great players are not necessarily great captains.
Buttler is generally England’s highest-rated white-ball batsman and was scheduled to do so once again as skipper after his skippering the team to a win in the T20 World Cup title in Australia in 2022.
It has all come crashing down for England though since that win.
England in the last 16 months were unable to hold both their World Cups and were eliminated from the Champions Trophy by Afghanistan on Wednesday.
During England’s short-term captaincy, Buttler’s win-loss record was 18-15 in one-day internationals and 26-22 in Twenty20 internationals.
India’s Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara of the West Indies are now part of the 34-year-old man as cricketers who were not able to translate their ginormous individual brilliance to the captaincy role.
Though blessed with huge ability, the two sporting legends lacked tactical acumen to outwit rivals and decent people-management skills to get the best out of working colleagues.
There is much said about Mike Brearley, former England captain, who in every appearance seemed like a captain who elicited the best out of his superstar cricketers, specifically that of Ian Botham, when he himself was no more than a good cricket player at best.
Brearley, who also retired from cricket in 1983 to become a psychoanalytic practitioner, knew some reason for why some of the naturally talented players could not fit as captains.
He stated, “Certainly, the best player isn’t necessarily an adequate captain.”
All these apprehensions were discounted when Australia thrived in the World Test Championship and the ODI World Cup, and regained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with Cummins as captain.
Theoretically, a wicket-keeper such as Buttler would be the best one to captain as he has the quickest eye among everyone standing behind the stumps in the field and would gain the maximum advantage from the majority of the dismissals.
A wicket-keeping captain, in comparison to a batsman-turned-captain, derives advantage from valuable bowling experience since he remains constantly exposed to pacers and spinners.
Buttler could have been blessed with a superb mentor in India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
With his astute match-reading, creative field placements and inspirational bowling changes, Dhoni led India to World Cup victories in both the formats.
Buttler’s career has been marked by incapacity to feature an uncapped side on a consistent basis because of the England & Wales Cricket Board’s policy of capping England all-format performers’ work.
Star vice-captain and utility player Harry Brook is bookmakers’ tip to take up England’s new white-ball captaincy role, but coach Brendon McCullum is conflicted.
McCullum and England men’s cricket managing director Rob Key do not wish the next captain to be burdened with shackles rotation policies heaped on a captain.
That’s what Keysy and I and the ECB are attempting to do, that we offer each format as much exposure as possible,” McCullum explained. “It’s a balancing act at times.
