Virat Kohli is certainly one of the stalwarts of the modern game. He is someone who has proved himself against every opposition and in every country. He had a bad tour of England in 2014 and he rectified that brilliantly in the next tour in 2018. Kohli is brilliant against both pace and spin. His performance in all the 3 formats of the game have been nothing short of outstanding. So much so that, the other modern greats like Steven Smith, Williamson, Root and to a certain extent, Ben Stokes is brilliant in one format of the game but just above average in the other formats. If one has to search for a great batsman across formats, Kohli wins hands down. However, Kohli the captain is a different problem altogether. Royal Challengers Bangalore is finding it the hard way. RCB’s huge Virat Kohli problem.

RCB’s huge Virat Kohli problem

What makes Kohli’s limited overs captaincy open to question is his lack of success for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. Kohli has led RCB from 2013. It has been 8 years since he started to lead RCB and yet he does not have a single trophy to showcase. During the 8 years, RCB have finished runner up once and have reached playoffs a couple of times. These are not returns for a team that boasts of a couple of excellent batsmen in Kohli & De Villiers and yet, Kohli is unlikely to be replaced as the captain. If he is not replaced, Kohli himself must resign and must play in the next IPL as a player alone.

Kohli’s lack of contribution to the squad

A glimpse at the RCB team for this year’s IPL will reveal severe dearth of resources at their disposal. They have Finch, Kohli & De Villiers as the most experience players. Added to that, a whole bunch of allrounders in Moeen Ali, Sundar, Morris, Dube and a few bowlers who are absolute millionaires when it comes to T20. In almost every game, the eleven was filled with 3-4 allrounders. Except for Morris, none of the other are capable of playing an explosive innings.

Padikkal at the top was good. Kohli & De Villiers occupied number 1 and 2 slots. Beyond them, RCB was packed with allrounders when ideally there should have been a couple of batsmen. As a result, neither were they able to post huge totals that their bowlers can defend nor were they able to chase big totals. This is not a team that can win tournaments. This brings us to an important question that everyone must raise against Kohli.

What was Virat Kohli’s contribution to squad selection? It seems rather poor. Kohli with so much experience and that too as captain of the Indian team, must know what is an ideal combination that can win tournaments. He has played in a lot of countries and must have interacted with lot of players. He should have known who will be ideal finisher for RCB and must have suggested their names to the RCB management. This would have helped the RCB management during the bidding process. It looks like Kohli failed on this front. This is not the hallmark of a captain wanting to win. It is high time he is replaced.

Virat Kohli’s international record as captain

He has had some memorable wins, notably in Australia albeit without Warner & Smith and some humiliating losses in England, South Africa & New Zealand. Kohli has won most of the tests and limited overs in the sub-continent and he is the only Indian captain to have won more than one series in the West Indies. One glaring weakness in Kohli’s profile is lack of a global trophy. He had been the captain of the Indian team in the 2017 Champions Trophy and the 2019 World Cup. He failed to win either. In both the tournament, India were considered overwhelming favourites to win the title but the team failed. Infact, the Indian team failed miserably in the finals of the Champions Trophy and in the semi-finals in the World Cup and yet there is not even a murmur to replace him as the captain atleast in the limited overs format.

Any captain with about 8 years of leading a side in a high pressure tournament like IPL would have gained sufficient experience and would have certainly won some global tournaments. However, Kohli hasn’t. It looks like his success in test cricket, albeit in favourable conditions, have ensured that he continues to be the captain across all the formats.

Gambhir & Manjrekar wants Kohli replaced

Now, finally, Gautham Gambhir and Sanjay Manjrekar have raised their voice for Kohli to be replaced as the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Gambhir said: “100%, because the problem is about accountability. Eight years into the tournament], eight years is a long time. Tell me any other captain… forget about captain, tell me any other player who would have got eight years and wouldn’t have won the title and would have still continued with it.

“The problem and the accountability starts from the top, not from the management nor the support staff, but from the leader. You’re the leader, you’re the captain. When you get the credit, you should take the criticism as well.

“The onus is not so much with the captain himself, it’s got to be with the owners because they are the people who appoint the captain and decide what kind of leadership they want for the team,” Manjrekar said.

What Gambhir & Manjrekar says is true. Accountability certainly starts with the captain. A wonderful example of accountability was Anil Kumble. Kumble was the Indian team captain for a very short time. He was injured for one of the test against Australia when Dhoni took over the captaincy for that specific game. India won that test and Kumble must have felt Dhoni to have performed a better job than him. Hence, he resigned his captaincy. Kohli must follow in the steps of Anil Kumble and will have to resign. However, I do not see that happening. Hence, the RCB management must decide for him and relieve him of captaincy.

Other IPL related articles can be read here, here and here.

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The top and middle-order let India down – 3

Ravindra Jadeja Probably the most improved batsman in the world. I will write a separate blog about Jadeja. In this test, he showed why he is preferred to Ashwin though it was never between Jadeja and Ashwin. I have always said that Jadeja plays outside of India as a specialist batsman. Everyone knows that his bowling is non-threatening in English conditions. He may take advantage of a 5th day wearing pitch and that is about it. He paced his innings beautifully. The way he manipulated strike with the tail in the first innings was excellent. If only Pant had stayed with Jadeja, the lead could have been around the 450 mark. Shardul Thakur Shardul Thakur is not an express fast bowler. As such he can never terrorise any batsman with his pace. He is in the team in overseas conditions because he can contribute with the bat. If he fails with the bat and does not keep the economy rate down and provide breakthroughs, it is tough to justify his inclusion. After the enormous partnership between Pant and Jadeja, India needed one more partnership of 50-odd runs to establish authority over England. If only Shardul had stayed with Jadeja at the point, we may have well earned another 60-75 runs. A first innings score of close to 500 would have proved quite challenging but Shardul failed with the bat at the wrong time. Moreover, his bowling was not threatening and he missed an easy sitter of Stokes. Shardul was the star performer earlier in the series and as such this one bad game should not invite condemnation. However, Shardul must realise that he is in the team for his batting as much as he is for his bowling. In hindsight, would Ashwin had been a better choice than Shardul? Maybe may not be. The only reason that I am not able to emphatically say yes is the fact that there is no proof to the contrary. As Manjrekar rightly said, he is yet to take a 5-fer in the countries that matter. With age not on his side, it is anybody’s guess whether he will be able to correct that aberration. Mohammed Shami Shami is a brilliant bowler. We know that. Shami bowls some magic balls. We know that too. Shami makes the batsmen play more often. We know that one as well. Shami is unlucky. That is the problem. He is good and he does bowl lot of excellent deliveries but if they do not fetch frequent wickets, then there is a problem that needs to be identified. A couple of wickets in the second innings just when things started to look dicey for India, would have put the game firmly in India’s grasp. His record in England is a major concern. Just 38 wickets in 13 tests, under 3 per test is not the expected return from the premier fast bowler. It is unfortunate that despite his obvious talent, he has often failed to deliver against the major teams. This is the 3rd consecutive test that India failed to defend and Shami has a lot to contribute towards that dismal record. One good thing about Shami is that he showed maturity while batting in the first innings. He gave adequate support to Jadeja which is good to see. He played the short-balls much better than Shreyas. He will have to work with experts and see where is he going wrong? Does he have to pitch the ball much closer or short? Is the length the problem? Jasprit Bumrah The captain played a blinder and absolutely annihilated Broad. Sadly, it was with the bat. With the ball however, Bumrah once again failed at the crunch. He is quickly becoming the Kohli of bowling. For someone this talented, his match winning feats are less. He is the most protected Indian bowler. He has played all but just 2 of the games outside India. Bumrah is often given a break from tests in India. It makes sense because his action is so irregular that over-bowling may result in an injury but being the bowler the opposition plays cautiously and being the premier Indian bowler, to have failed to defend scores in the last innings on three successive occasions, it really casts a big question mark on his effectiveness. Whether all the pampering, is it really worth? The Edgbaston game was the 5th time in the last 10-12 tests that Bumrah did not raise to the occasion. It includes the WTC finals in conditions that is any fast bowler’s dream. Ofcourse, he picked up 5 wickets in the test but was still unable to break the Root-Bairstow partnership. I have written that he is becoming the Kohli of bowling. Kohli is similar in the sense that when faced with a target to chase, this is about Test cricket only, he is unable to win the game with his bat. He had a couple of opportunities in South Africa in 2017 and a couple more in England in 2017. Bumrah had this one apart from the two tests in South Africa, the WTC finals and the 2nd test in New Zealand. The last one was a long shot because the target was meagre. One thing to note is that he is not the rabbit with the bat anymore. He has certainly improved on that front but it is his bowling that is required. Mohammed Siraj Siraj usually is quite expensive. Even when he is among the wickets, he is expensive but even for him, this test would have been an awakening. He was literally taken apart by both Bairstow and Root. Towards the final stages, the way Bairstow toyed with him in the last over, any bowler would have been ashamed. These are early days and he has shown sufficient skill to become the mainstay but he must also realise that being the 3rd choice bowler, his chances will be limited when India play at home. Conclusion to the top and middle-order let India down This was a golden opportunity for India to win a series in England. Ofcourse, not when they were 98/5 but once a lead of 134 runs was secured, India must have accelerated quickly and must have built an impenetrable position. The negativity of Pujara, Vihari and to an extent Kohli and Jadeja, the recklessness of Pant, the inability of Gill to make a rare opportunity count and the impotence of the bowlers in the final innings meant that India were lucky that they had an upper hand for more than 60% of the game. Remember, we played with one player less because Shreyas is literally a free wicket. By the next time, India go over to England, some of these players would have retired and whether we will get another chance in the foreseeable future, is doubtful.

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