Before you continue with the top and middle-order let India down – 2, please read part 1 here.
Hanuma Vihari
The one pair that everyone who watches the game dreads is Vihari and Pujara. It was on full display at Edgbaston. Both of them remained strokeless for a very longtime. They were intent on staying where they were without looking to score.
Vihari in particular is fighting for his spot. His meagre returns is not going to help him in any way. Looks like he wants to be a like-for-like replacement for Pujara. He must understand that the game at the basic level is about runs and wickets. He can stay on the wicket for as long as he wants but if the final return is not satisfactory, he will not last long.
Though Gill got out for a low score, there was a slight momentum in the first innings but Vihari completely killed it with his ultra defensive batting. With Pujara at the other end, it will not be wrong to state that India missed out on a good start in that passage of play.
Unless Vihari realises that he must also score runs, he will not be having a long career.
Virat Kohli
What can one say about the continued failure of one of the best batsmen? In both the innings, he was uncharacteristic. He must have learned from Bairstow and must have been positive. At the moment, he is extremely short of confidence. He does not know from where the next run is going to come. It is troubling for all the fans.
He desperately needs a break from the game. A very long break. Perhaps, a few Ranji games. In his current form, he is not of any value to the team. Having said that, it is really a miracle that he is still allowed to play without any retribution. His on-field behaviour has gone from bad to worse. Any other player from any other country, would have been banned multiple times. It is only the enormous power that BCCI wields that has saved Kohli all these years. It must stop and Kohli must pay for his boorish behaviour.
Here he was again at his worst. He abused Bairstow and was shown making fun of him after Bairstow failed to connect to a delivery. He even roped in the name of Tim Southee for no reason. In one shot, he insulted and abused both Bairstow and Southee. If reports are to be believed, he even threw an unparliamentary word. A word not becoming of a former leader.
Let us also remember that he was one of the trio who had that infamous combat with the stump microphone in South Africa.
What was the point?
What did he gain by abusing Bairstow? Nothing. Instead, Bairstow ended up with twin hundreds and Kohli was made to look like a fool. For someone who is unsure of his next run, it was childish to abuse someone who is redefining the art of Test match batting.
It is time the match referee takes serious offence of Kohli’s behaviour and hands over a substantial ban. Indian players who are already amongst the worst behaved is made to look horrible because of Kohli.
Shreyas Iyer
Free wicket. Nothing more needs to be said. It is hard to believe that Shreyas despite playing Ranji Trophy for so long, is a sitting duck against the short-ball. It shows how low the Ranji standards are that someone like Shreyas represented India at the highest level and has come a cropper.
From now on, in whatever format, he will be bombarded with bouncers and he will not be in any position to play them well. As Potts showed, not even a genuine quick is required to get Shreyas’s wicket. Potts bowled that delivery in the 2nd innings at 127KMPH and yet, Shreyas wasn’t able to keep the ball down or hit over the fielder. There were and there will be batsmen who are suspect against the short-ball but if a batsman cannot play the short-ball at this pace, he probably is not fit for the international stage. He probably will go the way of Vinod Kambli.
However, the one sad thing in the whole Shreyas episode is McCullum. Here was the former coach of your franchise giving instructions to the England team to bowl 2 balls every over towards your throat and get you out. Ofcourse, being the coach of the team, he is perfectly entitled to and it is his job but the point is, towards the beginning of the IPL, when McCullum was the coach of KKR of which Shreyas is the captain, he would have known that Shreyas has a problem with anything above his hip.
McCullum, you could have worked on his technique
Shouldn’t McCullum as the coach worked on Shreyas’s technique and if not solve the problem atleast found a workaround? That is what is disappointing and it is similar to how Ricky Ponting predicted the fall of Prithvi Shaw in Australia a couple of years ago despite being the coach of Delhi for the last few years. These 2 episodes throw some light on coaching at the IPL. It is not taken seriously.
Rishabh Pant
An extraordinary hundred at more than a run a ball in the first innings when it looked like India will be bowled out for less than 150. Brilliant innings by all accounts. Pant continues to impress with his batting in Tests. This was his 4th hundred in the SENA countries. Something none of the Indian wicket-keeper has ever achieved. Not even Dhoni. The maturity that he showcased on the wicket despite scoring quickly must be appreciated.
The selectors must ensure that the keeping gloves is never taken away from him. It is his asset and that allows him to play freely.
However, Pant wasn’t immune from blame. The shot in the 2nd innings was outrageous. There is no point in stating that that is how he plays. No, he does not. He showed that in the first innings and in South Africa. There was absolutely no need for that shot. There was loads of time and he was aware that after him and Jadeja, it is only the bowlers who cannot be depended upon. As such, he must have ensured that with Jadeja, the score was propelled to impenetrable proportion. Instead, his tame dismissal not only applied brakes on the scoring but it left Jadeja without support.