Virat Kohli-led Indian team trounced New Zealand in the 3-match Test series and in the process have become the number 1 Test team. Kohli has now won 10 Test matches, going past MAK Pataudi and Sunil Gavaskar's tally of victories. He will now have the record of MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly and Mohammad Azharuddin in his sights.
If the performance of the Indian team is anything to go by, this home season promises to be a bumper one for Kohli and his boys. The Delhi lad has displayed tremendous panache as a skipper and his intent during the matches is receiving rave reviews from all quarters.
Also read: India vs New Zealand Series: Player ratings
Kohli has instilled a sense of self-belief into the team, and thus it gives the team a great opportunity to consolidate their position at the top of the Test rankings.
Here in this list, we take a look at top 5 captaincy moments from Virat right throughout the series.
#1 The ploy to play 4 specialist bowlers
Ever since Kohli assumed the mantle of the team, he has been very vocal about playing 5 bowlers in Test cricket. He did employ these tactics in Sri Lanka, against South Africa and also in the West Indies. However, in the final Test against West Indies, he went in with 4 bowlers, which came as a bit of surprise for everyone.
He continued this ploy into this Test series too and went in with 2 spinners in R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja , and 2 seam bowlers in all the matches. While this tactic did surprise a few, but this was a well thought out ploy. The pitches in all 3 matches were not ideal for batsmen, and thus the decision to strengthen the batting worked richly for the Indians. The lower order bailed the team out from tricky situations in the first and second Test matches.
Also, as the pitches favoured the spinners, two were more than enough for the Kiwi batsmen, as even if a 3rd spinner would have been included he would have been under-bowled.
#2 Aggressive use of the pace bowlers
As the Test matches were being played on pitches which favoured spin bowlers, it was widely expected that the spinners would shoulder almost the entire responsibility. However, Kohli was not hesitant in employing his fast bowlers for short quick bursts. This ensured that the game would not drift and that the batsmen did not get used to pace and bounce off the surface.
Also, the quick men responded beautifully, both with the new as well as the old ball and prized out important wickets for the team. Mohammad Shami was especially brilliant with the old ball and troubled the Kiwis with his reverse swing.
#3 Extended rope for Rohit Sharma
Whenever Rohit Sharma is included into the Test team, there are furious debates around the cricketing circles over his position and his worth in the Test team. However, Kohli believes in the ability of Rohit and thus backs him to the hilt does not worry about the naysayers while including him in the team.
In this series, this faith was finally repaid by Rohit and he churned out half-centuries in all the 3 Test matches. His innings of 82 in the second innings at Eden Gardens was a match-winning as it bailed out India from a precarious position and took away the match from the visitors.
There is no denying the talent in Rohit, and Indian fans will be hopeful that this series becomes the watershed moment in his Test career and he can be the match-winner at number 6 for India in the many years to come by.
#4 Inspired selection of Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 2nd Test
When the teams arrived in Kolkata, they were greeted by a greenish track which promised help for the seamers. Thus Kohli decided to include Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the team in place of Umesh Yadav. This proved to be an inspired selection in many ways, as the right arm swing bowler wreaked havoc and picked up 5 wickets in the first innings and was next to impossible to play under lights on the second day.
He made the ball talk and never allowed the batsmen to settle down. The hosts scalped four wickets in the first 25 overs, and then the seamers returned to prize out three more under artificial light three more. Six of the seven wickets fell to the seamers on the day.
The team thus had all bases covered!
#5 Prizing out Kane Williamson
Virat Kohli's field settings were impressive right through the series, and he never allowed the pressure to ease out on the batsmen. However, the play against Kane Williamson stood out.
The New Zealand is easily one of the best batsmen in the team, and thus his threat had to be contained. Both Kohli and Ashwin came out with a very effective ploy against Kane. They kept the point region open and Ashwin kept bowling on the off stump, enticing the cut or the drive. Williamson obliged but did not account for the sharp off-break and was dismissed in a similar fashion on 3 occasions.
In the final innings in Indore Williamson decided to shun that stroke and instead he decided to play with the turn, but then walked across too far and was trapped right in front of the stump. A brilliant tactic worked richly for the Indians!
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