Virat Kohli, the captain, will need to evolve tactically — and quickly at that — if India are to claw back into the Test series. (Source: Reuters)
Virat Kohli is a passionate leader, but is he a good cricketing captain with tactical nous? The jury is still out on that. The first Test was a close affair where India got a rare sniff of victory. In the second, they were outplayed but weather conditions did favour the hosts. The 2-0 scoreline has prompted knee-jerk reactions with some suggesting that MS Dhoni would have done better as a captain had he had the same team. Not really. Dhoni, the Test captain, let things drift. He also repeatedly lost overseas Tests with far better batting units at his disposal. He was a good limited-overs captain, but very average in Tests. Having said that, there were a few situations where Kohli could have been better as a captain. Let’s revisit a few of those calls.
Two spinners in cloudy London
The pitch was indeed a bit dry but the atmospheric conditions were loaded and it was clear that the Dukes ball would jag around a bit. (Source: Reuters)
When he walked out to toss under dark clouds in London with a dire forecast popping out of every weather app on the smartphones, Kohli made a curious decision to go with Kuldeep Yadav over Umesh Yadav. The pitch was indeed a bit dry but the atmospheric conditions were loaded and it was clear that the Dukes ball would jag around a bit. At Edgbaston, he had said they would have bowled first anyway when England chose to bat and it took a bit of luck and self-disintegration from England for India to reach a good position by the end of the first day. Michael Holding had revealed on air that before the toss, Ravi Shastri had told him that he expects the ball would move around a lot in the air and that Holding told him not to go by the clouds in the air but look at the pitch. At Lord’s, they seemed to have taken that to heart and didn’t look at the clouds and went with the pitch. Had it been a five-day affair, the decision to play two spinners would probably have made more sense but with the Dukes ball, one has to be spot on with team selection.
Done that before
Dropping Bhuvneshwar in South Africa
Misreading pitches and wrong selections is turning out to be bit of a trend. India chose to drop Bhuvneshwar Kumar after he had had a stupendous first Test. The explanation was that Centurion was a bouncy pitch and Kumar might not be suitable. That argument was as zany as it comes. There he was, India’s best bowler in terms of skill, control over craft, and the art of setting up batsmen – and they dropped him.
Why wasn’t R Ashwin used until it was too late?
Ashwin is very good with the newish ball just as moisture escapes the track. (Source: AP)
Ashwin, who so beautifully set up the first Test for India, wasn’t used until the 39th over in England’s first innings of the second Test. Standing on the boundary, he would warm up repeatedly, but the call never came. For 38 overs. It defied all logic. As he showed by taking out Cook in the first Test, he is very good with the newish ball just as moisture escapes the track. Despite the conditions, England would have been a touch apprehensive against Ashwin after his heroics in the first Test. If he stood any chance in this game, it would have been early before the batsmen had realised there wasn’t much in the pitch. By the time he came, he could only try to keep it tight. Instead, they went to Kuldeep Yadav, who surprisingly bowled far too slow for this pitch and hardly changed his speed through the game. Especially when you consider his speeds were much slower than what he bowls at normally. The choice of speeds was quite bizarre when placed in that context.
Done that before
Forgetting Jadeja vs Australia 2017
It was the reverse in the first innings of the Bangalore Test against Australia. It took 38 overs for Kohli to give Ravindra Jadeja his second over. As soon as he came on, he hurried the batsmen with his quickish pace, and the batsmen were worried about LBWs and bat-pad-catches. Jadeja ran through the Aussies to take six wickets and the game had dramatically changed once Kohli decided who was the better bowler on the day.
Why wasn’t Ashwin promoted up the order?
Ashwin is one of the better batsmen in the team in his ability to play swing bowling. Where others, even the specialist batsmen, go hard with their hands, finding themselves in a losing battle with their own instincts, Ashwin has this lovely fluid hand movement and ability to play late and with the swing. It’s not a coincidence that he top-scored in both innings at Lord’s. With so much swing on offer, it’s a pity that he is being wasted rather low in the order. Surely, he is better than Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik against swing?
The constant chopping and changing of good players
The loss in confidence in the likes of Pujara and Rahane since the Anil Kumble days can’t perhaps be looked at in isolation. (Source: AP)
Ajinkya Rahane was the best overseas batsman for a while, doing well in England and Australia when he was dropped for the first Test in South Africa earlier this year for Rohit Sharma. Ditto with Bhuvneshwar Kumar as we saw in South Africa. Umesh Yadav, the team’s fastest bowler, never got a game in South Africa. Yadav is India’s only bowler with an out-swinger (Mohammad Shami and Ishant Sharma more adept at seaming it around), but he didn’t get a look-in at Lord’s. It was almost as bad a decision as Dhoni choosing to play RP Singh, who was absolutely unready for Test cricket, holidaying in USA when he was called as replacement for Zaheer Khan. If for some reason, Yadav was deemed not so good, then even Shardul Thakur, who has the best out-swinger in the squad, would have been more suited than Kuldeep Yadav for these conditions. There was a lot of talk about Cheteshwar Pujara’s lack of intent in games at home, and if not for Anil Kumble stepping in, India might have already lost him. The subsequent loss in confidence in the likes of Pujara and Rahane can’t perhaps be looked at in isolation. Especially when the alternative being pressed ahead of the two was Rohit Sharma.
All in all, Kohli is still a young captain who has to tactically evolve and quickly at that.