Kohli needs to infuse confidence in players
LONDON: Few India captains have had the going easy for as long a period as four years. Virat Kohli’s spate of successes, mostly at home, had driven up his stocks but a couple of overseas series losses have raised questions over his captaincy.
In fact, both Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri had set overseas series as the yardstick to judge the side despite them cruising to victories at home.
The South Africa series in January was the first big test since Kohli was named full-time skipper on the 2014-15 Australia tour, with England and Australia to follow.
When India won the final Test in South Africa after conceding the series 0-2, those lessons were expected to be implemented against a struggling England. But India have lost opportunities and trail 1-3 ahead of the fifth Test starting at The Oval on Friday.
While hopes of a fightback died after the innings defeat at Lord’s as India trailed 0-2 after the second Test, India gave themselves a chance to come back with a thumping win at Trent Bridge.
But at Southampton, lower order batsmen threw away the advantage in the first innings and then spinner R Ashwin struggled on a dry pitch, leaving India with too much to do in the fourth innings.
Although Kohli pointed out his No 1 Test team didn’t roll over, some of his decisions in South Africa and England haven’t given the team the chance to ‘cross the line’, which he wants it to do.
In South Africa, Ajinkya Rahane was controversially left out of the first two Tests. Bhuv- neshwar Kumar’s axing for the second Test in Centurion despite his six-wicket haul in the first Test at Cape Town defied logic.
In England, Cheteshwar Pujara was not picked for the first Test, which India lost by 31 runs.
Batting coach Sanjay Bangar said Pujara had to sort out technical issues, but the batsman, after his unbeaten 132 in Southampton, rejected the criticism. “I don’t think there was anything wrong with my technique or game. So, I just trusted it and it paid off, and when I got fifty (in Trent Bridge) I knew I was up for a big one.”
Anil Kumble spoke about the need for someone to ‘show the mirror’ to Kohli after he was ousted as coach last year. A captaincy course correction may be key for Kohli to secure his batting legacy.
Kohli has been insisting on playing five bowlers. They have delivered 20 wickets regularly, but the weak batting requires strengthening. Constant shuffling in batting in the name of allout attack has also added to the woes of the most challenging aspect in playing overseas.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya has not delivered consistently with bat or ball.
Batting at No 7 and 6, he could not back Pujara in the first innings and Rahane in the second. While Ashwin struggled at the Ageas Bowl in England’s second innings, he was not taken off the attack.
Sachin Tendulkar’s captaincy was affected as he got frustrated when others didn’t deliver at his level, and that in turn hurt the players’ confidence.
For Kohli, infusing confidence in the side will be the key to deliver overseas.