England vs India 2018: Bigger challenge awaits Virat Kohli on his road to greatness

Cricket has evolved so much in various aspects of player dynamisms, rules and formats but even today the fundamentals remain same. This is the fab four era in modern cricket, consisting of Steve Smith, Joe Root, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson. In the last few years, there has been plenty of talk about the best among the four.

If there was one thing that was stopping to settle the debate it was Kohli’s record in England. Last time Kohli toured England in 2014, he had a forgettable outing with an average of 14, becoming a bunny to James Anderson - a prolific swing bowler of modern times. But like they always say - cometh the hour, cometh the man!

With India set to play 5 tests in England, all eyes were on Kohli and he didn't disappoint any. Virat Kohli has responded well to critics, who thought he’d struggle again in England against seaming conditions. Though India lost at Edgbaston, his fighting 149 and 51 were the popular highlights of the match which also helped him to become current number 1 batsman in Test rankings.

The turnaround

What explains the dramatic turnaround is his evolution over four years, honing his skills, experience, knowledge, and confidence as most players would. He challenged himself by setting goals, he worked hard on his technique, fitness, and mental toughness to achieve them.

Opting for a stint in county cricket as preparation for this Test series was a step in that direction. Unfortunately, injury prevented him from playing for Surrey but he was not hard on himself over this sudden misfortune. Instead, he backed himself mentally to make up for this loss.

The real challenge

Now that the batting concerns are quashed to the bin, the real challenge that looms large over Kohli is his leadership role. Captaincy is never easy and makes huge demands. Being the best player in the side is not necessarily enough to make the team win. Just look at Sachin Tendulkar. He was never a good captain but an exceptional player.

Nasser Hussain rightly pointed out a flaw in the captaincy of Kohli in the first test at Edgbaston when Ashwin who was bowling so well was removed from attack after Sam Curran, who was playing his only second test match, came to the crease. Ashwin could have been effective in getting rid of a youngster of his calibre. Eventually, his runs hurt India at the end with the visitors losing by a small margin of 31 runs.

The fact that Kohli doesn't wish to play the same team for consecutive test matches (though forced at times) is a ridiculous feat. It hampers a player's morale, brings down his confidence. Again at Lord's for the second Test, Kohli decided to rest Umesh Yadav and played Kuldeep Yadav which eventually hurt India under seaming conditions and when the ball was reversing. Giving an extended run to Umesh Yadav would do a world of good to his rhythm and confidence.

The best thing about Kohli is that he backs up his aggression and arrogance with his performances, but in a long test tour, Kohli needs to realize that no two individuals are the same. There is always intra-team competition, and players could be gripped by insecurity about their relevance in the team.

Take Rahane, India's most successful batsman overseas in the recent past. Out of his 9 Test centuries, he has scored 5 of them outside Asia at an average of above 50 but surprisingly he found himself on the bench in South Africa tour for first 2 matches. Nobody expected that to happen in this lineup, but in order to try out various team combinations, he had to be left out. Since then it's not the old Rahane again. He's trying every different approach to cement his place back in the team but not providing the desired results.

Even at Lord's, Hardik Pandya was promoted to mumber 5 to see how it works. It's advantageous to Pandya but has anybody thought what it would do to an already underperforming Dinesh Karthik? It reflected in Karthik's performance with the bat. He was never at comfort with his short painful stay at the crease.

When a player gets insecure about his place in the team, he doesn't play freely. To build a great team, a captain needs to back his players consistently in order to give them that mental positivity.

As a batsman, Kohli has settled the issue. To leave his mark as a leader, he still has a long way to go.