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Showing posts with label Cape Town. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cape Town. Show all posts
Why Virat Kohli must stick to his guns
This isn’t
a kneejerk reaction to India’s defeat. It might help Virat Kohli and Ravi
Shastri to not act in haste too, but instead question their motives before the first
Test – the team they picked and what they hoped to achieve with it.
In the past
it has often been far too convenient to pick players for a Test and drop them
when they haven’t passed muster – only to be dictated by their limited overs’
form and picked for Test cricket again.
The pull of
ODIs and T20s far exceeds that of Tests, and every second 50 over game hurls a
new hero at us. What then, if the new hero is an old hero – what if he is Rohit
Sharma, the man who marched merrily to his third ODI double hundred just the
other day.
Barely a
few weeks before that, Rohit recorded his third Test century – more than four
years after his second. It can be argued that in more than five years, Rohit
has played very few Tests, only 24. And he’s way too often been in and out of the
side than a card carrying member. This of course is unlike
Rohit-the-ODI-warrior, the very player that makes Kohli take a punt on him in
Test matches, again and again.
Only to be
faced with that same old reality when India travel overseas. Which is when an
impatient media questions results, selection, and more often than not, the team
returns to the more logical XI.
But this
selection business is way too cyclical – the invisible Tests are over, the mega
ODIs return, Rohit and Dhawan return to run making mayhem, and subsequently to
the Test side. It now appears, every Test specialist has had to make room for
our one-day wonders.
For an age,
both Kohli and Shastri have spoken of intent, and this very intent has consumed
the spots of both Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara. The intent-storm has now
taken Ajinka Rahane in its wake.
Less than
ten days after his third double century, stand-in skipper, Rohit Sharma stormed
his way to 118 off 43 deliveries in a T20. Against Sri Lanka. In India.
It was good
enough for Shastri & Kohli to pen Rohit’s name in the playing XI in a Test
match. Against South Africa. In South Africa.
In a low
scoring Test, Rohit reached double figures in both innings – 11 and 10. He was
at the crease for 95 minutes in the first, and another 50 in the second. He
faced 89 deliveries in all, on that Wanderers’ pitch, that was something. What
was missing though was the very intent that Kohli & Shastri play a batsman
like Rohit for – instead, Rohit pulls off a Pujara, and should be ridiculed for
lack of intent. But that’s a long shot. (Only AB de Villiers, a few of his
mates and Hardik Pandya showed any intent with the bat, that too in the first
innings.)
Or is it
such a long shot? It’s for Kohli to decide what kind of Rohit does he want –
Pujara wallah Rohit? Pandya wallah Rohit? Or Rohit wallah Rohit? Doubt a player
like Rohit can be all things for his captain just yet, but if there is clarity
in communication, instead of making him something he’s not, who knows, maybe
they still have a shot at Test redemption for Rohit.
To drop him
yet again is almost too easy. Instead, it’s time for Kohli to back Rohit
through the series and ensure he plays all three Tests.
Time to
drop the old excuses, the old alibis, and let performance in a particular
format decide who plays when. If Rohit proves himself, there will be no
stopping him from playing in England or Australia, and not just against Sri
Lanka. If he doesn’t, there’s no reason he should continue to be in the squad.
Not long
ago, a triple centurion who few remember now sat out for Ajinkya Rahane. Now
that very Ajinkya Rahane is sitting out for Rohit Sharma.
If Kohli
& Shastri want to draw the long-term roadmap for this Test side, they might
need to throw Shikhar Dhawan, like Rohit, into the deep end – and ensure he too
plays all three Tests.
The results
can be rewarding, but for that, the men that matter, must continue to go with
their gut. As they did when writing those eleven names on the team sheet.
Jaspreet
Bumrah making his debut over Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav. Neither expert in
the Sony Studios had him in their playing eleven. Both had Ishant who would’ve
played his 80th Test.
But Kohli
& Shastri are not in the studio. They are in Africa. And in the jungle,
they must apply the rules of the jungle. And if they think an antelope can do
the job, they shouldn’t look for a zebra. Even if it makes no sense to anyone
else. They just got to go by their own inner growls. And hope their pick roars
at the opposition. Asking your wild cat to meow, doesn’t make sense.
InSaf ho gaya.
First Kallis saved his team with the bat, then without the ball, he saved India. It is Kallis who drew the series – with what he did, and even more so, with what he could not do.
Somehow, Sachin was similar. The runs in the first innings, and Boucher’s wicket in the second, more than hundred runs later. We know why Kallis didn’t bowl, MS, why didn’t Sachin?
Both guys worked at outdoing each other, and if Ponting was playing, who knows, would he have bowled again, or at least batted again?
In the second innings, with both Sachin and Kallis, the cricket sage took over. With Kallis it was a sanki sadhu, what with those reverse sweeps, with Sachin, there was an attempt to bury the ball with the bat.
There was a quality of silence to their batting – it absorbed the mayhem, diluted it, spat it out as calm. The scoring ceased to matter, and if test cricket was dying, this was one helluva eulogy.
Around Kallis, Boucher absorbed some of the sage’s light and shone – he played similar shots, the maneuver from off to on. Around Sachin, Bhajji was blessed enough to take on the counter.
Finally Kallis, Boucher, Sachin, Bhajji negated each other – two hundreds, a fifty, seven wickets, three catches. Steyn was playing, but he was part of another plot, one with Bhajji, that involved whacking each other for sixes, and dismissing the other once. Gratification.
What else? India has not lost a test with Che Pujara, two wins, one draw so far.
Series tied at 1 all. InSaf ho gaya.
So who are you supporting today sir ?
Take a look at the picture, it reads "An Indian fan waits in vain for the game between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders to start. Rain forced an abandoment in Cape Town"
Now answer the question... Who do you think he came to support ?
Snapshot of http://www.cricinfo.com/
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