While being the captain of a team, especially as important and as talked-about as India, comes with a lot of perks, it also brings along a ton of responsibilities and a target on your back when the situation turns sour.

The Indian cricket team is right in the middle of one such sour situation as of now. 

After getting themselves dominated by Steve Smith, Aaron Finch and the rest of the Australian batting line up for two ODIs straight, skipper Virat Kohli is facing heat by fans and cricketer experts once again.

Finch Warner Smith vs India in Australia pic.twitter.com/l5yxNGksU7

— Kashish Shah (@quantum_kashish) November 29, 2020

Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir is once again a frontrunner in the department of criticism and has questioned Kohli’s ability to form a strategy and stick to it under pressure.

In a video shared by ESPNcricinfo, Gambhir said:

"I can't understand the captaincy, to be honest. We kept talking about how important it was to take wickets upfront, if you have to stop this kind of batting line-up and then you make your premier bowler bowl two overs.”

He further said:

“Normally, in a one-day game, probably there are three spells and you finish 10 overs -- 4,3,3 -- or probably the maximum is four overs. But if you stop your premier fast bowler just by bowling two overs upfront with the new ball, I can't understand that kind of captaincy and I can't even explain that captaincy.”

On the other hand, Head Coach Ravi Shastri too has come under fire by fans for the humiliating loss because of the squad’s poor record against the best, most successful teams in the world. 

Absolutely bizzare that KL Rahul after smashing mountain of runs in #IPL and winning Orange Cap, is pushed to bat at no. 5 especially while chasing such huge targets!
Tactics of #IndianCricketTeam under Ravi Shastri and Kohli have been consistently bizzare since World Cup!

— Soup-A-Star™ (@VHang_VG) November 29, 2020

If India need to change the brand of cricket, then remove shastri and bring in a foreign/sensible coach.

Enough of Kohli with Shastri #AUSvsIND

— 4SL4M (@daddyhundred) November 29, 2020

First we need to kick Ravi shastri out of the team ... With Kohli Shastri combination we are not going to win any major trophies..

— GEETHESH (@gmech54) November 29, 2020

India are really behind in understanding the modern ODI approach.. power hitting all through, more players who can bat bowl and field well. We are outdated in our thought process

— Girish Duraisamy (@GirishPD) November 29, 2020

Gambhir also said: 

"It's not T20 cricket. T20 cricket is different and sometimes even in T20 cricket, people end up bowling three overs upfront. I can't understand the reason, to be honest, that was poor captaincy,"

While a part of the blame must go to the captain and the head coach, it is also important to understand that the roster is not full of infants or teenagers. These are grown men who are capable of making decisions on their own as well.

Bhai match tune hi to harwaya itna simple catch drop kar diya Smith ka ......ab feel karne se kya ....

— abhi dhankhar (@abhidhankhar1) November 27, 2020

If Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Yuzvendra Chahal fail to stop Australian batsmen and guys like Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank Agarwal struggle to take easy catches and misfield balls that end up going over the boundary, they must not be ignored either. No captain, no coach can help them in such situations.

Albeit there have been just two matches, the tour of Australia is already an eye-opener for the Men in Blue that there are some teams that have not only managed to get out of the lockdown lethargy but are way ahead of them in terms of performance on both ends of the pitch.

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