THE RISING PROWESS AND COMING OF AGE
OF ‘VIRAT KOHLI THE CAPTAIN’
“It might be
a different year, but it’s the same result. King Kohli reigns supreme in a run
chase” lauded Nasser Hussain from the commentary box after Kohli’s masterclass
hundred in Pune.We are used to listening to exciting commentary stints when
Virat Kohli is at the crease. But his evolution as the captain has been very
pleasing for many Indians who, a couple of years ago, thought-‘What after MS
retires?’
World saw the nature of Kohli’s captaincy
in his first match itself when he chose to chase down 360 instead of playing
for a draw at the Adelaide Oval. Though India lost the match by 40 runs, everyone had
known by then that he is a type of captain who is prepared to lose while pushing for a
victory.MS handed over the test captaincy to Virat at Sydney 2015.After a dull
rain affected draw in Bangladesh, India tasted the first series win under Virat
Kohli in Sri Lanka.India managed to come back from 0-1 down to win it 2-1.Later
that year it was South Africa who toured India and returned with an
embarrassing 3-0 series defeat. A bit of credit was taken away from Indian team
as many experts blamed the ‘Doctored pitches’ but nobody could see the
inability of South Africans to cope with the spin. Next assignment for Indian
team was in July 2016 in the West Indies. India thoroughly dominated and won
the series 2-0.
Now what lied ahead was a big home season
with New Zealand,England,Bangladesh and Australia scheduled to tour India for
test matches.First was New Zealand for a three match series. This time the
pitches were better than the ones against South Africa. But the formula for all
the victories was the same. Win the toss, put on a big first innings score and
then bring the spinners into play. The good thing was that the flip of the coin
favored Virat Kohli on all three occasions. Came the series against England,
and the only question raised about Kohli’s captaincy was whether he can
win after losing the toss and fielding first. The question was answered immediately
as India managed to win the series 4-0 after losing 4 tosses. But Kohli wasn’t
really there to be called as tactical genius as he often chose to go for
defensive fields when pressure was on England. But no one could blame him as he
was winning every single series.
As the series came to an end, Kohli was
handed another responsibility of leading India in limited overs as well when MS
Dhoni came up with another surprise decision. It was England again on the
receiving end when he dished out another masterclass while chasing. This was an
innings which saw him leading from the front and inspiring his team to win from
any given situation. India won the series 2-1 but it was closely contested and
definitely more competitive than the test series.Again, there was improvement
in Virat Kohli the captain. Whether it be bringing Jadeja on for Jason Roy or
trusting his spinners to give them attacking fields or to have the confidence
in Yuvraj Singh.
Next up, was the T20 series which was
supposed to be exciting and it was. Kohli decided to open the innings in order
to give stability at the top of the order and have MS at no 4.India lost the
first match but Yuzavendra Chahal bowled with a lot of courage and took 2 wickets.
In the second match, Kohli had no hesitation in playing another leg spinner
Amit Mishra.It didn’t quite pay off in the second match but it definitely did
in the decider as two leg spinners had combined figures of 8-0-48-7 with Chahal
picking up six of them. We could see ‘The captain’ Kohli in the third T20 when
he showed tremendous trust in Chahal bowling in the power play or when he
pushed MS up the order to bat at no 4 or when he brought on Jasprit Bumrah as
soon as he saw Jos Buttler at the crease only to get him out in a couple of balls.
He may have taken some advice from MS but we could see the coming of age of
Virat Kohli as the captain.
India did beat Sri Lanka, South Africa,
West Indies, New Zealand but any tactical deficiencies that Kohli had in his
captaincy were just taken out of the equation by high quality players such as
Ashwin, Jadeja, Pujara, Rahane and off course himself. His litmus test was
against England which he passed not without some difficulties. Now we will be
able to see more aggressive and genius captain when India takes the field
against Bangladesh and Asutralia.Exciting times are ahead in Indian Cricket!
