Leading up to the Pakistan match, Virat Kohli had scores of
9, 4, 3*, 8, 18, 5. Leading up to the Australia Test series, he had
scores of 1, 8, 25, 0, 39, 28, 0, 7, 6, 20.
What next? Hundred in his first Test in Australia. Hundred
in first World Cup match against Pakistan. It's as if he has the knack
to edit one series from the other.
Almost as if in solidarity with his mates, Kohli too can be
out of form; though with him, it could well be switching off from the
game. At the Adelaide hotel, with far too many people around, he talks
of switching off.
In the last four years, no Indian cricketer has been
switched-on more. Kohli 's innings against Pakistan was more graft - he
was far less flash than Dhawan or Raina, there was an acknowledgment of
his lack of runs, to bat deep into the innings - that India wins far
more often when someone scores a century.
Kohli has 22 ODI centuries. Rest of the squad has 27. Kohli
has played 151 ODIs. Rest of the team have played, right, you get the
drift.
Kohli
's attitude is both Dilli and Mumbai - there's way more khadoos in him
than the Mumbai boys, Rohit and Rahane combined. Enough Dilli too, with
both Gambhir's pangas and Sehwag's masti in spades.
Virat Kohli - From language to numbers |
*****
After Kohli, nobody scores as quickly as Shikhar Dhawan in the team.
Somewhat easy to forget as Dhawan's wretched run has extended through
formats, continents and the dressing room. Turning 30 this year, he's
played only 13 Tests and 54 ODIs.
He may not play many more Tests, but continues to be the
go-to guy in one-dayers. In spite of a low scores in the tri-series (2,
1, 8, 38) which were preceded by an indifferent Test series (25, 9, 24,
81, 28, 0); Dhawan was not tampered with - he opened in the World Cup
warm-up games, scored a fifty versus Australia, and yet another against
Pakistan.
He showed a readiness to scamper singles, rush twos; something which hasn't always been a part of his game.
What has been a part though is a knack to score in clusters
- this could well be the start of one such cluster. Previous to his bad
phase, Dhawan had a rather good one - in eight matches, he scored one
century and four 50s. In 2013, India won the ICC Champions Trophy in
England. Dhawan scored 114, 102*, 48, 68, 31, all pretty much at faster
than run a ball. Before that he had played only 5 ODIs, that too in
2010-11.
Could this be his third coming?
*****
Rohit or Rahane? Against Pakistan, it was Rohit. Was it another brainfade or at 34/0 in the eighth over, time to get a move on?
India won the match and if Rohit stays injury-free, he will
open against South Africa. After six 100s (same as Dhawan but in more
than twice as many matches) it isn't that obvious though.
Against Pakistan, Ajinkya Rahane, India's second choice
opener, came in to bat at seven in the 50th over, after Jadeja but
before Shami.
After a stunning Test series in England and an injury to
Rohit, Rahane opened in the ODIs there - 41, 45, 106, 0. In the
tri-series in Australia and an injury to Rohit, Rahane opened in the
ODIs again - 33, 28*, 73.
Rohit did open in India's first match in the tri-series,
scored 138. And then 150 on return from injury against Afghanistan in
the warm-up.
Rahane's second hundred was also in 2014, as opener, and I suspect, Rohit was still nursing an injury.
Rahane opens for Rajasthan Royals, Rohit doesn't for Mumbai
Indians. Going by the Pakistan match, Dhoni will prefer to play Rahane
as he did Badrinath in CSK - early wicket, send him in. Need to
accelerate, keep him on the bench.
But with no big hitters down the order, often this could mean underutilising both Rahane-the-opener and Rohit-the-finisher.
First Published in daily O
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