5 major differences between MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli as Test captains

As they prepare for the third Test against South Africa at Johannesburg, Virat Kohli and his men will be hurting after having already conceded the series heading into the final game.

Kohli, especially, considering the amount of pride he takes in his cricket, will look to lift the spirits of his men and ensure they end the Test leg of the tour on a high.

It has now been just over three years since Kohli took over as India's Test captain and he has already seen a lot as far as the churn is concerned.

It would now be a good time to look at how he is different from his predecessor, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

#5 Giving a longer rope to players

Kohli may never have become the player that he is today had Dhoni not backed him

During his stint as a leader, Dhoni was known to put his full faith in players in whom he saw genuine potential.

Prime examples of this are Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma - both of whom were persisted with despite having indifferent starts to their careers, and both have now shaped up to be premier batsmen, across all formats in the case of the former, while for the latter, in the shorter versions of the game.

Kohli, on the other hand, seems to be adopting the opposite approach, dropping players because of lack of form.

Ajinkya Rahane example springs to mind immediately as someone who despite not pouncing against mediocre attacks in the sub-continent did not find a place in the first Test against South Africa.

Maybe Kohli can be a bit more lenient in this regard.

4.Handling the media

Subtlety vs Spice

Any player will admit that facing the media is not always the most pleasant experience. With regard to a captain, it can only get worse when the team's performance head southwards, with a barrage of questions to counter after a defeat.

In this regard, it must be said that Dhoni and Kohli are as different as chalk and cheese.

During his tenure as Test captain, Dhoni knew better than most others how to counter the media using a blunt method of words in his answers to negate questions, playing his cards close to his chest on most occasions.

He was so adept at handling them that none, not even the most astute, could predict his Test retirement in December 2014.

Kohli, on the other hand, has been seen to be more unafraid to give it back when the media has criticised some of his tactics, as was evident post the loss at Centurion, when he refused to bow down after being asked about his constant chopping and changing in the team.

Post India's victory in the Bengaluru Test against Australia last year, he once again had an explosive interaction with the press, where he had hinted at foul play by the Australians during the game, after skipper Steve Smith was seen seeking help from the changing room for a review.

3.Picking fast bowlers over spinners

Someone like an Umesh Yadav has greatly benefited from playing under Kohli

Under Dhoni, there were many instances when it seemed like he preferred using spin bowlers that the quicker men.

One instance that comes to mind immediately is from the Nagpur Test against England in 2012, when he played as many as four spin bowlers - R Ashwin, Piyush Chawla, Ravindra Jadeja and Pragyan Ojha, and used Ishant Sharma as the sole pace bowling option.

However, since Kohli has taken over, the trend has changed, and under his leadership the quicker men seemed to have been given a higher priority.

Right from the time he took over, Kohli has shown a penchant for pace, whether it was fielding both Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron in Bangladesh in 2015 to playing four quicks in South Africa in the ongoing series.

He seems to have more of a liking to bowlers who clock 140kph than those who meander their way to bowling at 80-85kph.

2.The calm warrior vs the fiery beast

Which one would you prefer?

In one of the earlier slides, we touched upon the point of dealing with the press away from the cricketing pitch.

On it, too, both were equally different when it came to controlling their emotions.

You needed the moment to be really, really big to get a massively expressive reaction from Dhoni. If you looked at the video after Dhoni had completed a 4-0 whitewash against Australia in New Delhi in 2013, you would see him calmly walking up to the stump, picking it up, shaking hands with Cheteshwar Pujara and walking away.

Any team could speak and cheer proudly speak about having dealt Australia a whitewash, but the achievement still did not elicit any form of fist-pumping from Dhoni's end.

Kohli, on the other hand, shows his aggression almost at the drop of a hat. When a wicket falls, the button is switched on and he goes off, running all corners all pumped up.

Also, Dhoni was never one to sledge the opponent from behind the stumps or while batting, but Kohli, we have seen, is just not scared to give it back when the smallest opportunity presents itself.

1.Team change policies

Can you please pick just constant one team Mr. Kohli or are we asking for too much?

This is where both men are most different to one another.

During his time as skipper, rarely did we see Dhoni alter sides, particularly winning combinations as he looked to battle on with a side that had delivered in the previous game.

Even when it seemed like India might have been better off changing sides based on the conditions on offer or form, Dhoni would invariably back a set group of players to come up with the goods in the next game and keep faith on them.

Kohli, on the other hand, has never fielded the same side on 34 straight occasions.

Certain changes out of those 34 have worked, while others have just been plain bizarre.

Another Test match for India. Another Starting 11.34 Tests and 34 different teams. Kohli's decision to leave out Bhuvi is perplexing. https://t.co/qcEZICBM9X pic.twitter.com/QzP4m4VBdU

— Anand Katakam (@anandkatakam) January 13, 2018