Preview: In Steve Smith, Virat Kohli will finally meet his match in the battle of wits

New Zealand, England, Bangladesh and Australia – when the schedule for this long 2016-’17 home season was listed, there was an equal sense of intrigue and anticipation among cricket aficionados. Thirteen Tests spanning across the country’s extensive dimensions, varying conditions and pitches, and a young Indian team under Virat Kohli on the rise – it made for a thrilling summation of these four back-to-back Test series.

The debate was obvious: which would be the toughest contest for India? At least at the start of this season, there was consensus about the answer: England, the last team to win on Indian soil, back in 2012-’13. It didn’t pan out as per plan though, for Alastair Cook found out that a 4-0 defeat here was the endgame for his long captaincy reign.

Very early on the tour, Cook decided that picking three spinners was the way to go, never mind the lack of quality among his spin options or, indeed, the ability of Indian batsmen against visiting spinners. And this reflected in his team selection, which was a hindrance at best.

In the first three Tests, Cook opted for an extra spinner in the English ranks – Zafar Ansari in Rajkot and Visakhapatnam, and Gareth Batty in Mohali. Ansari bowled only eight out of 52.3 overs in India’s second innings in Rajkot as England looked to force a result. In Vizag, he bowled only 12 out of 130-odd overs in India’s first innings.

Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid combined to bowl 33.3 overs in that second innings in Rajkot, and another 60-odd in the first essay in Vizag. Batty’s fate was near similar; he bowled only 16 overs in the first innings in Mohali, while Ali-Rashid together threw down 64.2 out of 138.2 overs bowled by England.

The recognisable pattern here is visible every time a captain has more bowlers at his disposal than he actually needs, or indeed has confidence in. Rotating bowlers isn’t really an exact science, but it does determine the flow of the game. At times, there are certain conditions at play – for example, in that series, Kohli didn’t deploy Ravindra Jadeja for long whenever two left-handers were at the crease. This ploy doesn’t make much sense in the expanse of Test cricket, but it is the skipper’s prerogative to make his five-bowler attack work the way he intended it to.

Results can alter perceptions, however, and the negative scoreline led to serious questions against Cook. And, they didn’t pertain only to the usage of spinners. On two occasions – day three morning in Mohali, and then again on day three in Mumbai – Cook opted to over-bowl Ali first up, instead of bringing on James Anderson to attack the Indian batsmen. These were two pertinent moments during that series when India were under the pump, and a more pro-active captain could have possibly turned the screws over.

Truth be told, however, despite that 4-0 score-line, England weren’t a bad unit. They were just led by someone who is not up to the pace of the game at present. With world-class players at his disposal, Cook was great in 2012. But this Indian team has progressed at a hectic rate, first under MS Dhoni overseas, and then in the last two years under Kohli. The former English skipper operated like Internet Explorer – slow to respond and always playing catch-up – in a world where Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox rule.

And this is the underlying point when it comes to India’s next assignment, against Australia, starting Thursday in Pune. Steve Smith will not be as lethargic in his decisions as Cook was, and for once, Kohli will meet his match in a battle of wits.

Additionally, a more hands-on coach in Darren Lehmann backs Smith. On arrival here, the former Australian international was kind enough to point out that he would “like to play three pacers whenever possible”. His words reflected caution keeping in mind the pitches on offer. Let it be said here that the wickets on offer against both New Zealand and England (never mind Bangladesh) were highly sporting ones, requiring bowlers from both sides to work for earning their stripes.

In turn, this again puts the spotlight on how the captains will use their bowlers. Given his firebrand nature, Kohli likes to make an impact early in the series. It is the mantra he has adopted ever since he assumed charge, dating as far back as to the Adelaide Test in 2014. Picking debutant Karn Sharma ahead of Ashwin, he ruffled a few feathers, and has continued to do so, chopping and changing his eleven at every opportunity, mostly to fit in a five-bowling attack.

In Pune for the first Test, then, Kohli will want to replicate this approach. Depending on the pitch on offer, it will possibly be a toss-up between an extra pacer and Jayant Yadav. Playing in home conditions, the Indian skipper does enjoy one particular advantage. He doesn’t have to worry about the holding role, wherein one bowler among his available options needs to stem the flow of roles. In Jadeja, he has that option ever-present in the playing XI.

It has already started reflecting in his thought process as captain. Against Bangladesh, when Ishant Sharma started leaking runs with the new ball, Kohli immediately opted for Ashwin against the two left-handed openers.

“Earlier, I used to relent a bit with fields. But now, I understand when a pair is going for runs, I immediately go for in-out fields. There is no point giving them four-five boundaries. They might as well score 25 runs in singles, and take 15 overs to do that. That creates pressure and if one good ball does something, you are back into the game,” said Kohli, after the Bangladesh Test.

It is in stark contrast to Cook’s methods, and the Smith-Lehmann combination can only be expected to mirror Kohli’s approach. No, it isn’t in how they will sledge or verbally attack the batsmen, but how pro-active they can be in getting their pacers to bowl aggressively or even in setting their fields. Of course, it goes without saying that they need to find a way to stop Kohli from scoring those ‘daddy hundreds’.

“We need to bowl well and have a bit of luck along the way,” Lehmann had said. One of England’s few ploys that seemed to be working against Kohli was the use of short ball. It was in Vizag that Kohli was peppered by Broad and Woakes, and played the pull with aplomb. But for a botched attempt by Rashid (off Stokes) shortly after lunch on day one, the story of India’s first innings in that second Test could have been a bit different.

Sure, Kohli saw through that spell, yet it was the best passage of play for English bowlers in that series. And it was so because Stokes was able to mirror Broad and Woakes, and sustain pressure on the batsmen. In that light, Australia boast of Mitchell Marsh who can do the holding job, and provide the key all-round balance that will allow Smith to pick a two-plus-two pace/spin combination.

Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon and Steeve O’Keefe – Smith will only hope they can do the requisite job.