Kohli likes to play with 5 bowlers. We know that pretty well. Infact, he is obsessed with the 5 bowlers, 5 batters and a keeper theory. It is something that has brought quite a few successes for Kohli and the team. At the sametime, it is this inflexible approach that also proves detrimental to the cause on hand. India has an excellent opportunity to win their first ever series in South Africa. South Africa are inexperienced and they do not have the same class of teams under Smith or even Faf. However, Kohli’s ego is costing India. Let me explain.
It is all well and good to play with 5 specialist batsmen plus the keeper and an allrounder when the conditions warrant such an approach. However, does it really make sense to play with 5 batsmen when 4.5 of them are not scoring runs? Does it even make sense to play with someone like Rahane who contributes once every 50 innings? Is a 5th bowler even required on South African pitches?
So far in this series, Ashwin has limited to no role to play. Either with the bat or the ball. He scored an important 46 at Johannesburg but apart from that, he has nothing else to show far. With the ball, where he is expected to create maximum impact, he hasn’t really set things on fire. He bowled 21 overs at Centurion for a modest return of 2 wickets right towards the end of the game and at Jo’burg, he wasn’t required to bowl too many overs anyway.
Kohli has made series of mistakes in this game.
Mistake number one
The South African pitches are such that they favour the faster bowlers greatly. This is especially true when teams from the sub-continent visit that country because of their inability to deal with the bouncing ball. The pitches in this series is no different. All of them are loaded heavily in favour of the bowlers. So much so that the ball bounces from awkward angles. Indian bowlers have only bowled 150 and 120 overs in the first and second tests and that too over 4 innings. This is hardly a workload. I do agree that the gap between the tests is too short but 270 overs in 15 days is not that high. Under such circumstances, it is only logical that the batting is strengthened but Kohli did not do that because it must have hurt his ego. He went ahead and played with 5 bowlers.
Mistake number two
It really is unfathomable that Kohli has won a couple of tosses in this series. He is not known for that. What he did after winning the toss was wrong. He has seen what happened in the previous test. The pitch sort of settled down nicely during the 4th innings and the help to the bowlers on the first day was extravagant. He must have opted to bowl to give the team the early advantage and especially considering the mugs in the top 5. He instead gave first use of the pitch to the South African bowlers and they exploited it perfectly. Kohli should have learnt a lesson after the second test but he failed to do so. If not for South Africa’s wayward bowling on the first day of the first test, they would have already won the series.
Mistake number three
What on earth does Pujara and Rahane needs to do to get dropped? This is a question that must have perplexed even those two players. Here are two batsmen who have been consistently inconsistent over the last several years. Particularly, Rahane. Once in 20 innings he scores a 50 and stays in the team whereas other deserving candidates like Vihari is sidelined. I can understand if Kohli wanted experience of playing in South Africa as a selection criteria but why would he need 2 experienced but undeserving players is beyond me. More precisely, why was Vihari dropped? He played much better than these grand oldies at Jo’burg. Even Nikhil Chopra is furious,
“I believe Hanuma Vihari should have been included. It is wise to make at least one of the two changes if you don’t want to introduce two major changes at once. They did score half-centuries in the previous game, but would you still bench a youngster because of that? Any batter would score runs if he was given so many chances.”
I have complained enough about Rahane. A lot of former players have but nothing seems to have an effect on the selection. Kohli does what he wants to do. His ego does not allow him to listen to outside voices. He has his mind set on 5 batsmen and he will not alter that because to do that, he must temper his ego which he does not want to.
Mistake number four
Rishabh Pant. The whole country will be indebted to him for that fabulous innings at the Gabba but Pant seems to be milking that for way too long. After the outlandish shot he played in the previous test, he must have been dropped as a punishment. He wasn’t. What happened behind the scene, no one except for the players will be aware of. Was he reprimanded? I do not know. The Indian fans didn’t see punishment meted out to him in the way that is visible for everyone. In this game, he must have been sent after Ashwin and Shardul. He deserves such public humiliation.
Conclusion to Kohli’s ego is costing India
Not just Kohli, even Rahul Dravid deserved to be blamed. He must have put his foot down and must have told Kohli that we will go in with 6 batsmen with Kohli replacing Ashwin and Iyer or Gill replacing one of Pujara or Rahane. Preferably Rahane whose returns are far worse compared to Pujara. The fact that he didn’t do that raises question mark against his capability to take tough decision. He needs to remember that the 8CR that he is being paid every year must come with some accountability.
The pitch called for 6 specialist batsmen but India chose to go in with just 1 proper batsman with all the 8 put together.
Kohli will do well to remember that his legacy will lay tarnished if he fails to win this series. Afterall, he hasn’t won one series in the SENA countries despite multiple opportunities. The 2018 win in Australia does not really count and the 2020 Australian win was achieved by Rahane.