Five debatable selections under Virat Kohli in Tests

The selection of the playing XI in cricket is a quite tough task. It becomes more trickier in Test cricket where the conditions keep changing over the five days and no set pattern of play is involved unlike in the limited-over formats. The nature of the pitch is also an important factor when the captain decides the personnel for the given match. In spite of all the factors, the core of the strong Test teams remains the same across different conditions.

The Indian Test team under Virat Kohli is a bit different when it comes to selections. Ever since Virat has assumed the mantle of leading India in Tests, he has not repeated the playing XI in the consecutive Tests. The team has achieved tremendous victorious run at home under his captaincy, but, have faltered in away tours despite being in a position to dominate the game on numerous occasions. There have been a few debatable selection calls with the terms current form, gut feeling, horses for courses, turning the match in a session, etc. more dominant over the conventional patterns of selection. Here is a look at such selections and their impact in the outcome of the match/ matches.

#1 Karn Sharma ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja

Against Australia, Adelaide, 9-13 December 2014

Karn Sharma was preferred over the established spinners for his wrist spin

In his debut Test as India captain as a stand-in for Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli made a very surprising move to select debutant Karn Sharma in the playing XI ahead of the established spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Karn was not effective conceding runs at a high economy rate and could manage to pick just four wickets. Australia piled on the scores of 517/7d and 290/5d as India fell short of the victory target of 364 runs by a small margin of 48 runs despite the twin centuries from the skipper Kohli. Ashwin replaced Karn for the remaining three Tests of the series.

#2 Rohit Sharma ahead of Cheteshwar Pujara

Against Australia, Sydney, 6-10 January 2015

Against Bangladesh, Fatullah, 10-14 June 2015

Against Sri Lanka, Galle, 12-15 August 2015

Against Sri Lanka, Colombo, 20-24 August 2015

Rohit Sharma was given an opportunity at No.3 for his aggressive approach

After becoming full-time India Test captain after Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s retirement from Tests, Virat called for an aggressive brand of cricket and dropped the solid Cheteshwar Pujara for more flamboyant Rohit Sharma for the Sydney Test after the former had a mediocre series thus far. Rohit played a couple of useful knocks in the drawn Test and was persisted for the Bangladesh and Sri Lanka tours subsequently. After he failed in the couple of Tests, the team management opted for Ajinkya Rahane at No.3 with Rohit back to his usual position of No.5. When the openers Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan were unavailable due to injury for the third Test at Colombo, Pujara was drafted back in the XI as an opener where he proved his worth by slamming an unbeaten 145 on a seaming pitch to set up a series win for India. He continued to play at No.3 in the series against South Africa at home.

#3 Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul ahead of Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay

Against Windies, Gros Islet, 9-13 August 2016

KL Rahul's knock of 158 helped him retain his spot ahead of Murali Vijay

During the third Test of the Windies tour, India made a couple of surprising choices in the batting department. Murali Vijay, the first-choice opener had fully recovered from a thumb-injury sustained during the opening match of the tour. However, with Lokesh Rahul making most of the opportunity in the second Test scoring a brilliant 158, Vijay was confined to the sidelines again. Another debatable selection was the dropping of Cheteshwar Pujara who had batted well, albeit slowly, for his 46-run knock before being run-out. Rohit Sharma replaced him with Virat moving a spot higher in the batting order. While India won the match convincingly, change in batting order did not work for the skipper as he had scores of 3 and 4 in the Test match. Both Vijay and Pujara made a comeback in the fourth Test for Shikhar Dhawan and Ravindra Jadeja as India went in with six specialist batsmen.

#4 Rohit Sharma ahead of Ajinkya Rahane (both the Tests), Ishant Sharma ahead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Centurion Test)

Against South Africa, Cape Town, 5-8 January 2018

Against South Africa, Centurion, 13-17 January 2018

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ajinkya Rahane made a big impact in India's win at Johannesburg

For the first Test of the South Africa series, India made a very big call to drop the vice-captain and their best batsman in overseas conditions Ajinkya Rahane with Rohit Sharma who had struggled in the previous away tours preferred over him. The reason given for his omission was the poor form against Sri Lanka at home where Rohit amassed 217 runs in three innings. All the batsmen barring Hardik Pandya failed in the first Test, but, the management stuck to their original choice Rohit for the second Test too.

Another interesting selection for the second Test was that of Ishant Sharma for Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Bhuvi was the pick of the Indian bowlers in the first Test picking six wickets and also contributed with the bat. However, Ishant was selected for his ability to extract more bounce from the Centurion wicket.

After losing the first two Tests, both Rahane and Bhuvneshwar were picked for the third Test at Wanderers. The duo were the key performers in India’s great victory with Rahane contributing a vital 48 runs in the second innings and Bhuvneshwar coming up with an all-round show (63 runs and 4 wickets) to be awarded the “Man of the Match” award.

#5 Shikhar Dhawan ahead of Cheteshwar Pujara

Against England, Birmingham, 1-4 August 2018

Shikhar Dhawan was out cheaply in both the innings

Not picked by any team in the Indian Premier League, Cheteshwar Pujara, Team India’s Test specialist, opted for a County stint with Yorkshire to prepare for the Test series against England. The good run of form in the previous couple of seasons halted as he went through a very lean patch scoring just 172 runs at an average of 14.33 in the six County games. He had poor scores in the warm-up game too. Despite of all this, the tremendous success he had for India recently and the ability to grind out the new ball in seaming conditions made him the most ideal candidate at No.3 position.

The team management however went for a left-right opening combination of Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay and opted for the in-form opener KL Rahul at No.3. Interestingly, Shikhar who was selected ahead of Pujara had also fared poorly in the warm-up match getting out for a duck in both the innings. The Indian batting except Virat Kohli faltered as India lost the match by a narrow margin of 31 runs. The Delhi left-hander as well as No.3 Rahul could score just 39 and 17 runs respectively across both the innings increasing the demand for Pujara’s inclusion for the second Test.