Battle for Test supremacy: Virat Kohli's courage under fire

India v/s South Africa 3 Test series 2018 thus far:

1st Test: India need 208 runs to win on a green track.

2nd Test: India need 287 runs to win on a sub-continent type pitch.

3rd Test: India set South Africa 241 runs to win on an absolute minefield of a green pitch.

The pre-series hype around Kohli's Team India

India entered the series as the No.1 Test team in the world on the back of 9 consecutive Test series wins and almost everyone believed that this Indian team led by Virat Kohli, with all the experience and variety in their squad was probably the best-equipped to get that elusive and much coveted first series win in South Africa. To that end, if anyone had given the aforementioned numbers at the start of the series, one would have gladly accepted them and backed the Indian team to win all those matches.

The disappointing reality

As things panned out, the much-vaulted Indian batting collapsed and India lost the first 2 matches and conceded the series. What followed was a barrage of attacks (sometimes even personal) from fans, experts and the media. “Tigers at home, lambs abroad”; “India can only win on tailor-made dust-bowls”; “India don't deserve to be the #1 team”; “Kohli is not a long-term captaincy option”; “Kohli should look at dropping himself if he doesn’t score”; “Kohli is too arrogant” - the headlines and attacks poured in one after the other much to my bemusement.

Does Kohli's team really deserve to be #1?

Of course, we all are disappointed to see India going down tamely in the first 2 matches, but did we let the opposition run away with the game? Absolutely not, in fact for the first time, we actually have a bowling attack that has been consistently picking up 40 wickets in a test match to give us a shot at victory overseas.

The South African batsmen have found the going tough (not a single century yet from any of their batters in their home conditions) and if only our batsmen had applied themselves a little better, the end scoreline would have been totally different.

Kohli's horses for courses team selection

Much has been said about the team selections - Ajinkya Rahane dropped for the first 2 Tests; Bhuvaneshwar Kumar axed in the 2nd Test - all of these are debatable and contentious decisions. It resulted in questioning if team India actually fielded the best available 11 in the first 2 Tests - maybe not but we can’t fault the team for being courageous and taking brave decisions in the pursuit of victory.

Yes, the decisions backfired but everyone knew at the start of the series that team selection was going to be a tricky call. Rohit Sharma’s career was almost being written off in 2013 when he turned it around to become a one-day behemoth. Given his stupendous current form (regardless of format and conditions), once India decided to pick 5 batsmen, was it that unfounded a decision to pick him in place of Rahane (who only averaged 29.38 with one 100 and three 50s in 14 matches and 23 innings over the last year and a half)?

A captain often goes with his gut instinct and for Kohli to have made the call to drop his vice-captain on the basis of current form was a ballsy decision, which unfortunately backfired badly and ended up hurting India’s chances. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar's absence from the 2nd Test was surprising indeed, given that he batted quite well and was our best bowler in the 1st Test.

But given the pitch and conditions for the 2nd Test and on evidence of Vernon Philander's performance (Bhuvi's like-for-like counterpart in the South African team), it can be argued that Kohli's decision to opt for Ishant Sharma's bounce was again not unfounded. But going forward, it shouldn't come as a surprise if Bhuvi is one of the first names on the team sheet across formats and conditions.

Is Kohli a long-term Test captain for India?

There has been a clamour for Kohli’s head as a captain but let’s not forget that this guy is a champion cricketer who gives it his all on the field. There is absolutely no one who can fault the guy for trying nor anyone who can question his commitment, integrity and dedication.

Let’s face the facts again:

Kohli is India’s best captain-batsmen ever (3456 runs at an average of 65.20) - no other Indian captain comes remotely close to those staggering numbers.

Kohli is the first Indian captain to win 9 consecutive Test series.

With 20 wins in 34 matches, Kohli has the highest win percentage of 57.14% and is well on his way to becoming the most successful Indian Test captain.

It’s not just the numbers, it’s the manner in which he has led the team and the margin of victories that makes him and his team stand out from the previous teams.

Virat Kohli - India's highest-scoring Test captain

Let’s also not forget that this was his first overseas assignment (discounting West Indies and Sri Lanka) and he can only learn and get better from this experience. After all, how many Indian captains won in their very first overseas assignment?

Has Kohli made tactical errors on this tour - absolutely yes! It was an error to drop Rahane and Bhuvaneshwar and it’s also probably a big mistake to chop and change the playing 11 in almost every Test match. But we have to be patient and wait and watch him on subsequent foreign tours before we start clamouring for his head on the chopping block as captain.

Was his arrogance at the post-match press conference at the end of the 2nd Test justified - again, absolutely not, but then Kohli has already matured a lot from his initial playing days and that makes one optimistic about his ability to rectify such mistakes in future? What everyone saw was the arrogance of the man, but one could also see how much the man was hurting from squandering a golden opportunity at winning a test series in South Africa.

Cometh the hour cometh, King Kohli

That brings us to the 3rd and last Test match in the series. Previous captains and teams have been demoralized and steamrolled especially when faced with such a green wicket. But such adverse conditions separate the men from the boys and Kohli once again showed immense courage under fire - first by opting to bat first on a green wicket against South Africa’s enviable 5 pronged pace attack and then by leading by example with the bat - some of those cover drives on such a wicket was absolute genius!

Here again, lots of people questioned his sanity and decision-making ability when he picked 5 fast bowlers himself and chose to bat first but in hindsight, he has taken the right call and given India the best chance to wrap up a win on this minefield of a pitch.

There is so much hue and cry about the dust-bowls prepared in India where the matches end within 3 days, but at least there is no danger to the lives of batsmen and all players (fast bowlers, spinners and batsmen) are in the game. Here with such pitches, the spinners are totally out of the equation and there is enough spite in the wicket to risk injuries to batsmen, but again team India led by their captain fantastic has demonstrated courage to not only take the body blows but to go on and post a total giving their bowlers more than a fighting chance to finish the series 2-1 and salvage some pride.

Onwards and upwards!

I am backing team India for the win in the last Test match against South Africa and also backing them to go on and win a Test series or two abroad when they tour England and Australia later this year. Whether that will happen or not, only time will tell, but I believe in Kohli and I believe in team India. Onwards and upwards to a stellar 2018!