Familiar dilemma on home turf
India team management debates on whether to pick an extra bowler or batsman for the first Test against South Africa
Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri are said to be on the same page on most issues. However, the skipper and team director have a different take on several things, but in a subtle way. While Shastri emphasised that the India-South Africa Test series is one of the biggest in recent times, Kohli didn’t play it up oahead of the first Test starting on Thursday. Shastri had pointed to the history of contests between the teams while Kohli spoke about how India players focus only on their strengths.
Shastri drove home the point about home advantage while discussing the pitch; Kohli brushed aside the hype: “We don’t crib, we don’t complain… We don’t look at these external factors.” Shastri was also non-committal about whether he preferred an extra bowler or an extra batsman. However, he did hint that fielding only four bowlers can’t be ruled out. Kohli, despite the prevailing conditions, has not discarded his favourite ploy of playing five bowlers.
TASK AT HAND
“I do believe that if you have six batsmen and a wicket-keeper, even if you pile up 500 runs, you are one bowler short. And more often than not, there will be a session where you concede more runs and not get wickets,” Kohli said.
“So, it’s the top five batsmen who should take more responsibility to score runs along with the wicket keeper, and then your all-rounder should also contribute. A combined effort is required when you have 300400 runs, you still have a chance to take 20 wickets. I would rather have an extra bowler ready to give me 10-15 overs than someone getting tired and not been able to get wickets at important times.”
With the onus on the top five batsmen, Kohli has a job at hand to decide who he wants to keep in and who he wants to keep out. If the reading of the pitch is accurate, India won’t hesitate to play three spinners. Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron will share the new ball. That leaves Kohli to choose between Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma. Now that would be an interesting pick.