Virat Kohli is more important to this Indian batting line-up than Sachin Tendulkar was to his.
Tendulkar had Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman, Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag, all world class players, around him. Kohli’s troops don’t inspire such awe, although both Murali Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane have made centuries in England and will have important roles to play on this tour.
Between the end of the white ball series and the start of the first Test at Edgbaston (Birmingham), India played only three days of cricket, against Essex — not a First Class match since all players were used; also the match was curtailed by a day. It might have made more sense to play two three-day competitive First Class matches in the interim. The modern tendency to play “net” matches devoid of competitive interest is neither fair to the fans nor to the opposition. And it doesn’t do the Indian team a whole lot of good either. Proper match practice is so much more useful.
Yet, Essex might have helped Kohli find a semblance of form, his half century the innings of a man in control. Kohli averaged 13 on his last tour here, as he struggled against Jimmy Anderson who delighted in keeping the ball on or around the off stump and waited for Kohli to nick it. That was four years ago, and much has changed since. In 37 Tests following that series, Kohli averages 65 with 15 centuries in Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies (and including seven in India).
In England in 2014, Kohli’s tentative bat followed the swinging delivery with fatal inevitability.
Last year he explained to Nasser Hussain on a television show how “to get the feel of the ball, I had to open up my hip as I was too side on. Anyway, I had too much of a bottom hand grip and I didn’t have too much room for my shoulder, to adjust to the line of the ball, so it was getting too late when it swung in front of my eyes.” In short, it was an issue of balance. It was also indication that Kohli is constantly thinking about his game.
Search for perfection
The judgement all batsmen have to make is, when to meet the swinging ball. Do you play it early, hoping to negate some of the swing, or late so the ball has completed the swing, or at some point in-between where you are confident of meeting it in the middle of the bat? Whatever you choose, you are making a bet with yourself — you are betting that the middle of your bat and the ball will arrive together at a specific spot at the same time. For that to happen, the feet, the arms, the hip, the shoulders, the head have to be in proper alignment.
These subtle adjustments need constant attention. Which is why sometimes even great batsmen — Greg Chappell, Sunil Gavaskar, for instance — suddenly find themselves under pressure at the height of their form. Sometimes the dip lasts an innings, at other times a whole series; sometimes batsmen sort themselves out in the course of an innings. The search for perfection is a continuous affair.
Stroke players tend to play more deliveries, and Kohli is no exception. Yet in England, and especially when the ball is swinging, there is more to be gained by leaving the ball alone.
In 2014, Kohli might have been playing for the in-coming delivery, figuring that if the ball left him he would only be beaten at worst. For that theory to succeed, you must be able to read the outswinger and have the discipline not to chase after it. It means too controlling the ego.
Batting is about imposing your will on the bowler. It is equally about letting the bowler tire himself out by playing only what is necessary and then taking charge. Brief domination versus the long innings — in Test cricket it is a no-brainer, to borrow an Americanism.
Kohli is too good a batsman and too intelligent a player not to have taken aboard the lessons of his last outing in England. He admitted later that he had put extra pressure on himself then to succeed. While it will be working at the back of his mind (he is human after all), the thought cannot be allowed to govern. A good innings in the first Test in Birmingham might set the tone, not just personally for Kohli, but for the series itself.
James Anderson, who dismissed Kohli four times in 2014 has already fired the first salvo in the traditional cricketing welcome, saying the Indian captain will be “desperate”. But the Englishman is professional enough to know that what worked four years ago may not necessarily work now. Anderson might have to work on something new.
It will be interesting to see how Kohli deals with a personal cricketing issue while leading the side. Will his batting affect his captaincy or the captaincy influence the batting? India’s fortunes depend on the answer to that question.
