England vs Virat Kohli - The issue in hand

The Test match between India and England, possibly in its true sense, met all the expectations that were expected from it. Although England prevailed over India in the match, the Test match fluctuated from session to session, day to day, from hour to hour and even from half-an-hour to half-an-hour. Every ball bowled was cheered and enjoyed. Every stroke played was appreciated. The bowling was matched by the batting. If Virat Kohli fought for the Indian team then Sam Curran stood tall for the Englishmen. Oh Boy! Things can go on and on but this is a Test match worth remembering.

The visitors did quite well in their bowling. Isn’t it surprising? The Indian bowlers were spot on especially Ishant Sharma and Ravi Ashwin. The county exposure before this series is possibly the reason why these two have performed better. Virat Kohli threw a lot of surprises with his team selection. Going for KL Rahul over the regular no. 3, Cheteshwar Pujara and then opting for one spinner, thus, resting Ravindra Jadeja. Clearly, Kohli’s decision worked in the bowling department but it backfired in the batting department.

With the Test match ending within the four of its five scheduled days, there was an important aspect that was boldly highlighted by this match- India’s fragile batting order. Despite having a strong batting line-up on paper, the Indian batsmen were unable to showcase their abilities on the foreign turf. Apart from Virat Kohli, no other batsman was good enough to reach an individual score of 35.

The skipper was seen standing tall and fighting it out with the tail in the first innings and was stranded on the non-striker’s end seeing his fellow men departing without showing any resistance. Scores of 149 and 51 from the skipper showed that batting was not a hard task as the other batsmen made it look like.

The Indian batsmen were poor with their approach and footwork towards the swinging ball. Keeping in view the moisture-laden pitch and the cloudy atmosphere that are offered in England, playing the ball a bit late and on the front foot is a must and the Indian batsmen were clearly not seen following it. Besides, the Indian batsmen seem to have forgotten the art of leaving the ball alone that is swinging around the off-stump.

The patience determines a Test player and this patience is somewhere lost while playing the limited overs. The pressure seen on the Indian batsmen after leaving balls is something which the England bowlers used to their advantage. This loss of patience has resulted in some loose shots and the minimal footwork of these batsmen while playing the ball has seen the Indian batting line-up falling faster than the stack of papers.

Indian batsmen have considerably struggled against the moving ball.

The problem that boldly underlies the current situation is the Indian top order. It is always said that whenever a team travels to England, New Zealand and Australia- the new ball matters. The touring team should know how to make the best out of the swinging new ball. The former captain on the eve of the loss too added to the struggles faced by the Indian batsmen against the swinging ball. He said,”The failure against swing in English conditions can't be used as an excuse any more as everyone knows that it is what you get when you come to England.

You can't be excused all the time & we have lost before in 2011 & 2014. You've to bat well. It's a very well known fact that the ball will swing in England the same way as Australia is known for its pacy wickets. So if previously you've scored runs there is no reason you can't now.”

India was good in the first innings with a 50 run stand and then the ball started swinging. The top order did not make the useful contribution it should have and this accounted for a loss in the first Test. The problems of positions 1, 2, 3 and 5 are something which is constantly haunting the Indian team. Moreover the former captain Sourav Ganguly, in his Instagram post, wrote, "If you've to win a Test then everyone has to score runs. The other batsmen have to score 100's as well. Virat Kohli played very well otherwise India would have been out of the match on the 2nd day itself. This was the first Test in a 5 match series & I think this team has the capability to come back & play well. Ajinkya Rahane & Murali Vijay will have to show some determination since they have scored runs in these conditions before.”

Murli Vijay has not played up to his standards. Shikhar Dhawan is unable to find the solutions to his own problems against the swinging ball. Then comes KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara, the only reason they are unable to perform in the team on a regular basis is the lack of confidence shown by the management in their abilities. Supporting the same, the former added,”One criticism for Virat Kohli is that he should give a consistent run to his batters & more time before dropping them. He should give them time & tell them to go out & play without any fear. It is true that after continuous chopping & changing of the playing XI, players can get afraid that after all these years they've failed to garner the faith of the team management.”

The constant in and out of these two players from the playing 11 have resulted in poor performances from both of them. And then deep down at no 4 comes Virat Kohli, the skipper is the only warrior the team is having outside the subcontinent.

Fair to say that the Indian skipper is the lone warrior outside the subcontinent.

As Ian Healy once said-" I have seen Sachin Tendulkar bat and I must say Virat Kohli has the ability to bat like him." True to his words, the current Indian Test skipper is carrying the team on his shoulders like the great Sachin Tendulkar. Afraid to say that the Indian team is back to the famous phase of 1990’s where the whole team was relying on the contribution made by Sachin Tendulkar.

Yes, the team is over-reliant on the shoulders of the skipper. Though Virat Kohli is enjoying this dual responsibility of being a captain and also being the lone contributor of the team right now in spite of that, one cannot go into the five-match Test series with no contributions from the others.

If on one end is robust Virat Kohli and then on other end is fragile Ajinkya Rahane. The rough patch of India’s dependable no 5 batsman is hampering the team in a way only he can understand. The player who is known to provide solid performances outside the subcontinent is unable to get over his own demons of continuous bad performances which is a little concern for a player of his stature. Furthermore, the absence of Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the tail has rubbed salt to the wounds of the hampered Indian batting line-up.

Something that also caught everyone’s eyes was the lack of intensity shown by the team in both the innings. Though Ishant Sharma who was raging fire in the second innings and Mohd Shami who was bowling well in the first innings or Ravi Ashwin who bowled well in both the innings, India lacked the extra bite that Ben Stokes, Jimmy Anderson and other players provided to the England team.

Also, this intensity was the reason why the young Sam Curran was able to get those meaningful runs in the end or wickets in between, which Indians were unable to get. All in all the first Test match was a clear example of a team pitted against an individual and in such a case there has to be only one winner- the team.

Intensity shown by England is second to none.

When it’s a contest between a team and an individual the team generally wins. #INDvENG

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) August 4, 2018

England showed intensity, kept their calm and was good enough when it really mattered. For India, there is a lot of thinking to do behind the scenes before it could bounce back in the second Test in The Lords. With Ben Stokes not available for the second Test and some sweet memories too associated with India’s last visit to The Lords Stadium in 2014, Will Virat Kohli bring Cheteshwar Pujara back or will he carry on with KL Rahul? Will India be able to solve their deep-rooted batting issue?

So what it’s gonna be: The host taking another lead or the visitors rising up to their true standards of being the no 1 side?