This post is criticism of Kohli the captain. Kohli the captain stands as a near antithesis of Kohli the batsman. Kohli the batsman is match fit, fitness icon, making runs like a hedge fund owner, seems to be increasingly adapting to the situations and bowling attack he faces on pitches that he plays. Kohli the captain seems to have got the best bowling attack playing under an Indian captain in decades. In middle of the captaincy stint as a test captain, Dhoni was running thin on bowling resources and drew blank in England and Aus. If Dhoni was the captain with the resources Kohli has had for SAf, Eng and now Aus test series, Dhoni would have two series to his name and the present series he would have hand on the trophy by now. Dhoni used to play to set the template of the game, while Kohli seems to play the game to a set template.
Critics are reaching out for the scabbard and daggers may draw out soon. He is the batsman to watch out but for his team he is the elephant in the team. Sid Monga on Cricinfo has already listed the some of these blunder selections. These criticisms get more intense if and when India travels abroad and chose to suffer these selection blunders. At home, India under Kohli steam rolled, England, Aus and SAf in last few years, in some contests they manage to prevail at other times, they beat opposition very convincingly.
Some of the criticisms are:
Elephant in the room
Kohli the batsman is the elephant in the room, dominating and devouring whatever he comes across. When he started he wasn’t getting big meaty hundreds, often betting lower or with the lower order. In last 5 to 6 seasons, since that tour in England 2014, he has just transformed himself.
He is RBI’s promissory note in Limited Overs. In test matches too he is in middle of purple patch. His century at Perth was controlled, stoic, watchful. He was literally running out of partners. He got the rub of baggy green or Aus team got rewarded for Elite Honesty.
For the sake of the team, Kohli the captain needs address the elephant in the room, Kohli the batsman. He needs to vacate two down / Tendulkar’s slot. I assume Kohli will make runs independent of where he bats, when he bats and what order he bats. Kohli should be at 5. Rahane Jinx is more of an accumulator, who is albeit running through a very lean patch. Jinx should be at three. He has a decent technique and temperament, though he would love to have fitness levels of Kohli. Pujara slows down the speed of the game to how cattle roam around cities of India or specifically in his town of Jamnagar). He is phlegmatic and his reserves of patience outweigh total reserves of patience of all other batsmen combine. At 3 and 4 secured. Kohli will give Jinx and Che the boost they need to be more rounded batsman. Kohli doesn’t have to check boxes that these two batsmen have to face. Kohli can change gears quickly (automatically) if he is batting with the tail. It will seemingly look less fragile.
Indian openers tend to get rough end of the stick while batting away. Bowlers they ace seem to have a spring in the stride. The pitch seems to have a bias in favour of bowlers. Seems taking a single is a luxury. They have time on their hands. A flashy drive a loose pull shot can be exchanged for more solidity, playing more percentage cricketing shots is situation is more adverse. Keep the good ball away and if it mean letting go most of it, for at least 2.5 sessions so be it.
Apart from Kohli the batsman, there is another elephant in the room. The Indian batsman’s ability to play the finger spinners. I am not sure if the alarm bells are ringing, but any team hosting India will find a decent finger spinner and leave it to Indian batsmen to make him look fabulous. Moeen Ali in England, Lyon seem to just walk away with wickets, Indian middle order just crumbles time and again. Sehwag last series vs England, Panesar and Swan just cut through the Indian middle order. Lyon bowling at less than two an over especially against the Indian batsman playing him away from home is just too much respect. He is allowed to bowl and Indian batsman play at lengths and lines Lyon wants them to bowl. If Warne was bowling (wrist spinner I know) to this team, he would get the whole team out in two sessions every time.
Kohli needs to sort it out.
Team Selection
Kohli’s team selection is a systemic risk. I don’t know what exactly goes in behind the confines of the pavilion or Indian dressing room. A mistake repeated more than once is a decision. Kohli considering the resources he has is sitting on absolute goldmine. An Old War House, seem to have sorted out his game, Ishant Sharma. Bhuvi and Bumrah have been so good. Shami and Yadav have pace. Jadeja and Ashwin at home are imperious. Kulpreet Yadav is so good in ODI. Chagall is waiting in the wings. Probably this year’s IPL will get us couple of more good bowlers, who knows?
Kohli besides, Che and Jinx seems to have running marginally thin on batting resource. KL Rahul hasn’t really impressed with runs. Vijay is averaging 7 away from home. Dhawan looks ok at home and in ODIs, meanwhile in test matches, look awkward. Shaw, poor chap, injured. Mayank Agarwal has been flown in as reinforcement. Vihari look good prospects, but both of them open tomorrow or in this test, their failure and their success is Kohli’s punt and should not be marked against Mayank or Vihari. Kohli somehow needs to find players, who will exchange verve, panache, tattoos,hair styling gel and favourable film reviews (assuming next Sehwag is not on the horizon) with some old fashioned cricketing grit.
Playing five bowlers and ensuring a long tail doesn’t help. Even if Pandya was playing, not sure, he would bowl a lot. Ishant, Bumrah, Bhuvi are a must in the playing XI. A spinner out of Ashwin or Jadeja. Pant is raw; Lyon will keep calling him out. Raw pace look god, Bhuvi’s guile and his ability to keep hitting a block of 6 x 6 sq. inches makes him invaluable. Bhuvi bowls well within himself and an asset with the bat. Pandya for his ability to pick wickets and do something out of the ordinary something that the batsman is left bemused.
Team selection is subjective, not sure two Indian fans will ever agree on any playing XI.
Sense of insecurity / uncertainty
Increasingly from the outside, that there is great sense of insecurity / uncertainty within the group. Story of which starts in SAf, Rohit travels with the team to SAf, after scoring heavily vs SL in LOI in India. He had average of 11 in all test matches he played against SAf. He played in first two matches, kept the scores barely around his average except for a blistering 31. Rahane the best suited to play test matches abroad sat out for first two tests India folded in the first two tests Rahane made a comeback in the third test, on a minefield. India won. Bhuvi get surprise selection in XI on the first test does his trick with bat and ball gets dropped in the second test. India struggle with both bat and ball in the second. Ashwin dropped in the fourth. In England Pujara is dropped in one of the test. Pandya bowls only 10 overs in the match in seeming conditions, on a green top, he goes in with the two spinners. The whole list is actually put by Sid Monga on Cricinfo. In Aus both test matches so far have seen their share of weird selections. I am sure it will continue in the third and the fourth tests.
Vijay was unceremoniously dropped in England; bought back will be probably dropped again. Kohli besides addressing the elephant in the room needs to get a core group going, including openers, give them 10 to 12 matches, if they stick they stick. It’s the same with bowlers. Hopefully we see Kohli waking up right side of the bed and hopefully make all the right selection. Kohli the captain should stop running these popularity contests in the name of team selection.
The series in SAf and England were lost looking at score line they reflect how we played as the team, but little more Dhoni like game sense while selecting the playing eleven, selection of bowlers when they are bought in and from which end they bowl and we would be more competitive and prevails in previous two away series. Kohli the captain would have done the unthinkable.
Also away from home, Kohli has won all matches where he has won the toss.
So we got to wait till tomorrow to see if
Kohli wakes up with right frame of mind,
Kohli wins the toss.
Kohli gets the playing XI right.
My Point of View 