In South Africa, fight will get real for Kohli
KOLKATA: Luck hasn’t played any part in Virat Kohli’s career. Not at its inception, not when it flourished, and definitely not now when he’s struggled. So visually captivating is his batting that Kohli gives the vibe of being in sublime touch even when he hasn’t scored a century in any format for well over two years.
The biggest competition lies within, he has often said. Yet there is a lingering feeling that Kohli wasn’t quite challenged during his rapid rise to power. It wasn’t his fault though. No one among Kohli’s peers batted like Kohli. Cheteshwar Pujara was decidedly old-school. Ajinkya Rahane had issues playing spin. And Rohit Sharma couldn’t quite find his feet in all formats till a breakout home series against South Africa in 2019.
Only Kohli, by virtue of his cross-format fluency and sheer will to dominate, was an obvious choice when it came to picking MS Dhoni’s successor. Lest we forget, he was also in the middle of a hot streak in Australia, churning out centuries in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney when captaincy fell into his lap. Kohli’s brusque behaviour may not be everybody’s cup of tea but it is also true the BCCI never admonished him publicly for it.
By the time Kohli was captain, the BCCI was already working under a Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (COA) that was trying to overhaul the administrative structure of the Indian cricket board. The daily running of the India team, quite understandably, ranked very low among its priorities.
It has often been discreetly alleged that Kohli utilised this time to consolidate his position. There are insinuations that the removal of Anil Kumble, a rare cricketer with cricket administration experience (he was president of Karnataka State Cricket Association for three years), from the post of head coach in 2017 was orchestrated at Kohli’s behest.
That players found it difficult to adjust to Kumble’s methods was never substantiated beyond a text message a BCCI official had apparently shown the nowdissolved COA. But it’s entirely possible Kohli didn’t particularly like Kumble. Ravi Shastri’s appointment too was seen with a tinge of doubt till India started winning away from home.
For three years — including the time Kumble was coach — Kohli was untouchable. Between 2016 and 2019, he aggregated 4,208 Test runs, won every Test series at home, beat South Africa in Johannesburg before winning a Test series in Australia.
Of the holy trinity of away Test series in 2018, India ended with victory in Australia, defeat in England, and a creditable 1-2 defeat in South Africa. The only slip-ups in Kohli’s success graph all this time were India’s lacklustre shows in ICC tournaments. Break up those performances, though, and you will see how emphatic India were in the lead-up to the 2017 Champions Trophy final (Iost to Pakistan) or the 2019 World Cup semi-final (lost to New Zealand). The tipping point came much later, after the Test Championship final in Southampton and a rare series lead in England, in the barren climes of UAE where India lost the plot in the first game against Pakistan, never to recover again.
In a matter of two months, almost everything riding in Kohli’s favour has now deserted him. Form, for starters, hasn’t been translated into a hundred despite strained efforts at home and away since November 2019. Kohli the captain has failed to win a trophy in Tests, World Cups and the Indian Premier
League. And now, the Sourav Ganguly-led board hasn’t taken kindly to his “tell-all” press conference. Loyalties have shifted. Rohit has the mandate and possibly undivided support from the selectors as well as office bearers. India now have an alternative to Kohli. Left with reins of the Test team, days away from an uphill tour of South Africa, how will Kohli react to this adversity?
It’s interesting because Kohli has never really faced a crisis of faith of this magnitude off the field. Tests suited Kohli because he played to win. And in shorter formats, the assuring presence of Dhoni meant Kohli could still spare some time to plan his batting. We know to what detail he has worked to get himself in shape or work out his off-side issues before the 2018 England tour but never how he prepared to deal with staunch criticism within the house. Because there was never really one till earlier this year perhaps. His intensity, even off the field, was never in doubt.
But it never came to a stage like this where it could be tested every day—over phone, through texts, with a series on the line and all this while keeping calm within the confines of a bio bubble in South Africa.
You could say Kohli has dug himself into a hole. And only he can claw his way out of it. The fight’s just got real for Kohli.