Australia vs India 2018-19: 3 captaincy flaws Virat Kohli must rectify for India to win the Test series

#2 Be an aggressive fielding captain

Strangely, given Kohli's preference for playing an aggressive brand of cricket, his field placements have at times been defensive. When opposing batsmen attack India's bowlers, Kohli has surprisingly opted for a spread-out field rather than continuing to pursue an attacking approach with a view to ensnaring wickets.

India's series in England is a case in point. Kohli kept taking the pressure off the batsmen by making unnecessary bowling changes, in addition to pushing the field back. As a result, on more than one occasion England were able to claw their way back into the game after being down 5 wickets for less than 150 on the board.

Kohli must continue to put pressure on the opposing batsmen until all 10 wickets have been taken instead of taking the foot off the pedal when the lower order batsmen come to bat. This is a lesson that the fans hope Kohli will have learned after giving away positions of advantage in both South Africa and England.

#1 Extend a longer leash of confidence to teammates

Virat Kohli and his team

A common criticism against Kohli has been his tendency for changing the team line-up almost every Test. In fact, until recently, Kohli had made changes to the playing 11 in every match he had captained.

Strangely, players that had played well in a Test were dropped in the very next Test with suspect justification. Many deserving players were ignored for inexplicable reasons, while other non-performing ones were brought out of the wilderness and thrust into the playing XI.

This kind of dodgy selection has invited a justified line of inquiry from the press, and that hasn't gone down well with Kohli. More importantly, a sense of insecurity has crept into the minds of the players, and that has had a deleterious effect on their on-field performance.

Stability in the selection process and sending a message of confidence to his players is a basic quality that a good captain must possess. Kohli must decide on his best 11 and give them time and confidence to get established in the team. Only then will we be able to gauge the true heights which this team can scale.