“The idea is to take 20 wickets. That’s the only way you win a Test match (....) I strongly feel that you have to play a stronger bowling side to win Test matches. And your batsmen have to take more responsibility, which is challenging but at the same time it is exciting.”
Those were Virat Kohli’s words in 2015 before the Sri Lanka series – ahead of his first away tour as India’s full-time Test captain. There are many mantras that Kohli follows as India’s captain – the word intent comes to mind first, for instance – but the five-bowler theory is the oldest of them all. When he started out on his mission to win Test matches regularly and reverse the failing fortunes under MS Dhoni, he had identified the need for taking 20 wickets in every possible condition as his main motto.
And, as it turned out, he had to ditch that very motto to lead India to a historic win in Adelaide on Monday – the first time India have won the opening Test of a series Down Under.
It was nervy, though. Despite being the better side for most part of the match – ever since Cheteshwar Pujara’s rescue act for the ages in the first innings – India were perilously close to succumbing to nerves. Even the usually unflappable Jasprit Bumrah was caught on camera hurling an abuse or two when one edge too many didn’t result in a wicket.
The focus, in those final stages, was on the bowling attack, which had toiled hard in the Adelaide heat. Nearly 100 overs in the first innings, and past that mark in the second, edging towards the 120-mark. You could have forgiven Kohli for letting a momentary thought creep in – did I do the right thing in picking just four bowlers?
The case against
The workload. It became evident during the solitary warm-up match in Sydney that the pitches in Australia are not going to be as friendly to India’s potent pace attack, especially with the Kookaburra ball that doesn’t offer the same movement as the Duke’s (used in England) does. But, while Kohli stuck to his five-bowler theory in England for the first four Tests, here in Australia – where a genuine fifth bowling option is more important, perhaps – he opted to play a sixth batsman, in Rohit Sharma.
This is partly necessitated by the absence of Hardik Pandya from the squad. While he was under-utilised for the most part during the England series (even the innings after he took a match-changing five-for, Kohli didn’t throw the ball to him regularly), Pandya provides a safety net – a chance to rest his four frontline bowlers when needed.
Credit goes to Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and R Ashwin for taking up the extra load on them. Kohli (again) spoke about his bowlers’ fitness and how they are at the peak of their capabilities, but after 200-odd overs from his four bowlers, it started to look like Kohli was missing an option to change things around.
Which takes us back to Rohit Sharma. Did India gain anything of note by playing a batsman who has been dropped from red-ball cricket at the beginning of this overseas leg, hadn’t played any first-class match since, and use him in the XI straight away? Sharma’s scores of 37 and 1 in the Test doesn’t immediately indicate that is the case. It wouldn’t be too much of a conjecture to think Ravindra Jadeja or Bhuvneshwar Kumar would have done as well if not better.
And then there is Hanuma Vihari, who was handed a debut at The Oval in the fifth Test ahead of Karun Nair – presumably because of the option he provided with his off-breaks. He found himself on the bench in Adelaide.
Sure, the bowling line-up was ultimately good enough to take India home but it became awfully tight against, frankly, an ordinary-looking Australian batting line-up.
The case for
Having said that, the results matter. India won the Test, like they set out to do. The bowlers took 20 wickets overseas, like they have repeatedly done since the South Africa series. And in all honesty, more often than not, India have been guilty of under-bowling the fifth bowler (read: Pandya) in Tests under Kohli’s captaincy.
The bowling depth India possess should also help Kohli in trusting the four players he played in Adelaide, knowing at the back of his mind that should one of them need replacing due to a niggle, there are quality options to replace them. A Bhuvneshwar Kumar can step in any time to play a crucial role or a Ravindra Jadeja can replace Ashwin and help India not miss a beat.
One of the many criticisms of India’s selection policies during the England tour was that the security of an extra batsman was missed in the first four Tests. If Kohli and Ravi Shastri had the belief in their main bowlers, which they rightly do, four of them should have been enough in bowler-friendly conditions, while the struggling batting line-up needed to be shored up.
Much like they did by crossing the finish line in a closely contested game, India, it seemed had learned lessons from the series defeat in England.
Yes, Sharma continues to frustrate on his comeback to Test cricket but we’d be remiss in not acknowledging the impact his cameo had in the first innings. While Pujara was doing his thing, Sharma came in with India in disarray and stopped Australia’s momentum and provided India a lifeline to fight back. And for Rahane at No 5, it just offers so much security knowing there is a proper batsman coming behind him, as we saw him get back close to his best in the second innings.
Even if Sharma does miss out in Perth on form or fitness (he was absent from the field on Monday due to a back niggle), Kohli has enough reasons to believe six frontline batsmen is the way to go.
Verdict
After the win, Kohli said, “...in the past there have been sessions where we have given too many runs in one go, and as captain I have sat down and tried to plug it. In this Test, we were pretty balanced in that regard, we never gave away a session where they got away from us so we just have to remember that and make that balance again according to situation of the game and be more aware. It is awareness that counts in those situations.”
Given the evident trust he has in his main bowlers to deliver the goods, it would seem Kohli is warming up to the more conventional four-bowler theory, at least for this series Down Under. And, for now, it seems he’s headed in the right direction.
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