Joe Root is a fine batsman but poor captain unlike Virat Kohli: Ian Chappell

Former Australia captain Ian Chappell has said England's Test captain Joe Root is a fine batsman but a "poor captain," unlike Virat Kohli.

Kohli recently stepped down as India's Test captain following 2-1 series defeat in South Africa. Under Kohli, Team India reached at the top of the ICC Test rankings, they won two series in Australia and were 2-1 up win England before the final game got postponed due to covid.

Root, on the other hand, captained England to a 4-0 loss in the Ashes Down Under earlier this year.

"This is a tale of two cricket captains; one very good at his job and the other a failure," Chappell wrote in his column for ESPN Cricinfo.

"There's no doubt Kohli was an exception as captain; he didn't curb his enthusiasm but he was still able to lead the Indian team to a higher level. With the capable assistance of vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, he lifted India to overseas success like no other captain had done," Chappell opined.

Further emphasizing on Root, Chappell said, "The captaincy failure, despite having led his country more times than any other captain, is Joe Root. It doesn't matter what Root or any other English devotee tells you, Root is a fine batter but a poor captain."

Chappell also said that Kohli reinforced the legacy of two successful Indian skippers - Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni.

"Kohli took the legacy of Sourav Ganguly and Dhoni and substantially built on it in seven years at the helm. His biggest disappointment as captain was the recent series loss to South Africa after India led the away series 1-0, though he didn't captain in the middle Test of that series, in Cape Town."

The former Australian skipper also heaped praise on Kohli for "instilling" the passion to do well in Tests in his team.

"One of Kohli's great achievements was instilling in his team craving for Test cricket. Despite his all-encompassing success, Kohli's major aim was to achieve victory in the Test arena and this is where his passion really shone," added Chappell.

In addition, Chappell solely credited Kohli for Rishabh Pant's success in Test cricket.

The wicketkeeper-batsman had fallen off the good books of the previous management's (Kohli, former head coach Ravi Shastri and bowling coach Bharat Arun), who picked Wriddhiman Saha for the first Test in Australia. It took a 36 all out in Adelaide and the realization that Saha doesn't have the batting technique to survive in SENA countries, which prompted Ajinkya Rahane to bring back Pant and the rest, as they say, is history.

"Kohli has a number of individual achievements in his resume, none bigger than the development of Rishabh Pant as a wicketkeeper and batter. Kohli tended to get his way when it came to selection and some of his decisions in this area were a little questionable but there's no doubting his support of Pant was a masterstroke," Chappell observed.

Joe Root lacks imagination as captain: Ian Chappell

"He (Root) was never going to be a successful leader. Though England under him have a reasonably presentable record at home, Root has lacked imagination as a captain, quickly run out of ideas, and showed little gut feel for the game. Too often his choice of bowlers to begin a session caused head-scratching, but the real killer were his tactics: they often made no sense," explained Chappell.

Chappell also expressed that the reason why Root is a failure is that he hasn't exactly been his own man with "too many off-field advisers".

"A good captain has to take charge and this was an area where Root failed dismally. There's no doubt his last tour was badly hampered by player injuries and he was poorly treated by fate. Nevertheless ten Tests for eight losses and two unflattering draws is a fair summation of Root's leadership in Australia. It was poor captaincy accompanied by bad luck," said Chappell.

Chappell also made it clear that seasoned pacer Stuart Broad isn't the answer to England's captaincy problems.

"To suggest that the answer to the leadership void is Stuart Broad lacks understanding of cricket captaincy. Apart from Broad's advanced (cricket) age and articulate off-field responses, he's a negative influence -- particularly with field placings -- and would be a poor choice as captain," the former Aussie cricketer said.