Were there any silver lining from the SA tour? This is the question I have been pondering for awhile now. After thinking long and hard, I finally found one. It is rather an important one. Rahul as captain. Yes, this is the silver lining from an otherwise disastrous tour. It is now clear the Rahul is not captain material. No other captain in my living memory has had such a horrendous start. 4 games captained and 4 lost. That too against an inexperienced South African team.
Right at the outset, questions must be asked of the BCCI and the selectors. What made them appoint Rahul as the captain? Was he even part of the first choice playing eleven till the beginning of the England tour? Does he command a place in the side based on performance in the first place?
Unfortunately, the answer for all these questions, we will never come to know. Let us look at the facts.
Rahul’s career so far
Rahul made his debut way back in 2014. He had a decent start to his career with a hundred in Australia. That was something most Indian batsmen will only dream about. However, he didn’t set the carriage on fire with till the end of 2015. Then he had a couple of good seasons with lot of 50+ scores. Indian finally heaved a sigh of relief that we have finally found an opener for all occasions. Something that the team missed since Sehwag retired. Alas, it proved to be a false hope. Rahul was so miserable from then on that he lost his place in the squad itself. He was not considered good enough to replace the likes of Dhawan or for that matter, even Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal.
His form was so bad that it rubbed off on his performance in white ball cricket too. White ball cricket is something in which Rahul is considered as a natural. Even there he failed to impress. Added to that Kohli and Shastri thought Rahul to be fit enough at the top but not in the middle. As a result, he never was able to breakthrough into the side. Rohit, Dhawan, Mayank and Prithvi always played ahead of him in tests as well as in limited overs.
In such a scenario, what made the selectors appoint him as the captain? It is utterly ridiculous. Manoj Tiwari, the former Indian batsman was quite critical of the decision.
“What did you see in Rahul as captaincy material? Suddenly, they’re saying that they’re ‘grooming’ him as a future captain. I don’t understand how you can groom a captain,”
Rahul’s creditable achievements
Granted that ever since his return to the team, he has got couple of hundreds in England and South Africa. Creditable achievements no doubt. It is something not many Indian openers can claim. However, in England, after he started the series quite positively, his form tapered off towards the middle and end of the series. The same template followed in South Africa too. Moreover, in both the series, he was extremely circumspect. Rohit in England was able to cover Rahul. In the absence of Rohit in South Africa, Rahul failed to take the lead.
Rahul was not even part of the original eleven
Before all that, how did he even get into the squad in the first place? Gill’s injury paved the way for Rahul to be considered as an opener. Otherwise, he was seriously considered as an replacement for Rahane or Pujara. For someone who was thought to be a replacement for someone else, how did he end up leading the team? Isn’t this quite strange? Leave alone the fact that it was ridiculous, does it augur well for the selectors and the BCCI? The selectors and the BCCI made someone a captain just 6 months after he wasn’t even part of the original eleven. It essentially means that the BCCI and the selectors admit that it was a mistake to drop him in the first place (I do not adhere to that view) or they failed to identify a captain in the event Kohli resigning the captaincy.
Eitherway, it reflects poorly on the BCCI and the selectors. Here is a bunch of people who does not have a plan for Indian cricket nor do they know what is best for the team. Suffice is to say that the state of affairs for the game in the country is abysmal.
BCCI and the selectors are completely useless
I for one always knew that the T20 World Cup in 2021 and the England and South African series in the same year will define Kohli’s legacy as captain. I certainly felt that if Kohli fails to win the World T20, he will either be removed from the white ball captaincy or he himself will resign. He did that. Along the same lines, if he fails to win atleast the South African series, he will certainly resign. He did that. Having been captain of the team for 7 years, the end of his captaincy tenure was near.
When I as a cricketing novice can sense these things, how come the board wasn’t able to? I do agree that they were forced because of the untimely injury to Rohit who would have been the defacto captain. However, I do not subscribe to the view that the board and the selectors are trying to groom Rahul afterall, he wasn’t even part of the playing eleven until a few months ago.
Ashwin was the ideal option
The ideal option in the absence of Rohit would have been Ashwin. I do realise that I have written scathing comments about Ashwin’s bowling and his lack of usefulness outside India but in South Africa, when Kohli and Rohit was not around, Ashwin would have made a good captain. He certainly possess a good tactical brain. You never know. Ashwin could have actually won the series in South Africa. The extra responsibility may have even inspired him to pick up wickets. With India not slated to play any test series outside the sub-continent and the West Indies over the next 18 months except for the one test in England, Ashwin must be made Rohit’s deputy immediately.
I do see him playing in all those tests except for England. Perhaps this will give the much needed time for the eventual captain. It could be Pant or it could even be Gill or for that matter, Bumrah.
Conclusion to were there any silver lining to SA tour?
Except for establishing the fact that Rahul is not a captain, I do not see any other silver lining. Everywhere I look, it is only despair. Hopefully, Rohit will change that with wins in England and both the World Cups in 2022 and 2023.
What do you think? Were there any silver lining to SA tour?