Cricket in 2018: 5 Surprising decisions by captain Virat Kohli

At the moment, Virat Kohli looks set to create his own legacy as skipper. There were apprehensions all around on whether he would be able to deliver as captain or not after replacing the legendary MS Dhoni. But so far, the dashing batsman has done extremely well. He started his captaincy stint with the historic 2-1 series win in Sri Lanka in 2015 and hasn’t looked back since then. In the same year, he led India to a thumping 3-0 win over South Africa.

In the extended 2016-17 home season, India thrashed New Zealand, England, Bangladesh and Australia to bolster their position at the top of the Test rankings. Earlier this year, he also led India to Test wins in England and South Africa but unfortunately, his side lost both the series. But while Kohli is doing a commendable job as captain, one cannot ignore the fact that he has also been garnering the attention for some surprising decision. 

Kohli has made a name for himself for tinkering with the playing eleven every now and then. Unfortunately for him, the decisions have backfired more often than not. So with this year set to end in a few days, we take a look at some surprising decisions from the India skipper.

1. Dropping Bhuvneshwar Kumar for 2nd Test in South Africa:

Contrary to the popular speculations, India had included Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the first Test. With South African pitches more favourable to bowlers with pace, including a bowler in the side who relies more on swing was a surprising one. However, India took the gamble and it paid off.

Bhuvneshwar destroyed South Africa’s top-order to put India in the driver’s seat. He picked up four wickets in the first innings and added another two to his tally to finish with match figures of 6/120 in the opening Test in Cape Town. Besides his efforts with the ball, he also provided a vital contribution with the bat, scoring 25 off 86 deliveries in the first innings and adding another 13 off 41 deliveries in the second.

Unfortunately, his all-round effort went in vain as the hosts held on to take the lead in the series. But unlike most of the Indian players, Bhuvneshwar earned widespread praise for his show. However, India sprung a huge surprise by dropping him for the second Test before bringing him in the playing eleven again for the third Test.

2. Dropping Ajinkya Rahane for first two Tests in South Africa:

Virat Kohli & Co. sprung a huge surprise in South Africa even before the first ball was bowled by dropping Ajinkya Rahane for the first Test. The Test vice-captain had been one of India’s most consistent performer in overseas Tests in recent times.

However, the team decided against dwelling on the past and included Rohit Sharma in the playing eleven. The decision did not bring the desired results as Rohit flopped with the bat and India lost the game. But the team management and the captain had learned little from their mistakes as they committed the same blunder in the following game.

The result was the same – Rohit flopped and so did India – as South Africa won the series with a match remaining. India finally gave Rahane a chance in the third Test and he proved his worth straightaway, scoring 48 on a tough pitch as India won the game to end the series on a good note.

3. Dropping Cheteshwar Pujara for Edgbaston Test:

There would be no denying the fact that if there is one Indian batsman who has performed consistently with the bat in the last couple of years apart from Virat Kohli, has to be Cheteshwar Pujara. The right-hander from Saurashtra has become the Test side’s batting mainstay.

However, his performance in the last two years outside of the Asian subcontinent or so was not enough for him to play the first Test in England. The Indian team management instead tried to go in with KL Rahul at number three without success.

It was a blunder without a doubt and India and Kohli soon realised the error in judgement. Pujara returned to the playing eleven and went on to play some vital innings although the team ended up losing the series 4-1. He has since only grown in stature and has produced a memorable knock in a winning cause in Australia already.

4. Playing Kuldeep Yadav at Lord’s:

Before the start of the match,  the weather and conditions made it quite evident that it would favour the fast bowlers. There was a lot of hype prior to the match, in fact, all through the tour that it was the hottest English summer and the wickets were dry. Drier surfaces mean it will assist spinners and the Indian team management didn’t give current developments importance just went in with the general perception.

They fielded not one but two spinners – Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav. The decision backfired completely as both the spinners failed to make any impact in the game. To make the matter worse, Kuldeep ended up conceding almost five runs per over.

England thrashed the visitors by an innings and 159 runs – their pace spearhead James Anderson picked up 9 wickets in the match. Kuldeep was later dropped from the team before being sent back home.

5. Not playing any spinner in Perth:

Virat Kohli and his colleague once again failed to read the pitch well. The leadership of the team gave importance to the hype more than ground facts. Watching a green top made them play the second Test in Perth against Australia with no frontline spinner and four pacers.

While the pacers did reasonably well, Australia spinner Nathan Lyon‘s performance showed that India could have done much better with a spinner in the side. Lyon picked up 8 wickets in the game while India had only one bowling option in Hanuma Vihari to rotate the pacers.

With his part-time off-spin, Vihari managed to extract a lot of purchase and trouble the Aussie batsmen enough to bag a couple of wickets in the first innings. The pitch deteriorated really fast and Lyon was in business all the way through, enough to ensure Australia won the game by 146 runs.

~ Written by Bijoy

Get the latest Cricket News and updates, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.