The Young Indian Brigade played a total of 12 Tests (all overseas) from 1st December 2013 to 31st December 2014 out of which, they won only one, lost seven and drew four. The solitary win came against England at Lord’s and the seven losses came against England (3), Australia (2), South Africa (1) and New Zealand (1). Out of them, India got thrashed by England in two and in the remaining five, they failed to win the crucial moments. The intent to fight was there but at the end, it’s the scoreline that matters the most, and it will have to change soon if India are to rise in Test Cricket again, especially overseas.
After the drawn third Test at Melbourne, India skipper MS Dhoni retired from Tests so as to prolong his ODI and T20 career. Of course, he would be a bit disappointed that he couldn’t transition the side as well as he would have liked at overseas (after the drubbing in England and Australia in 2011-12), but maybe he felt that it’s the right time for someone else to carry the burden of Test captaincy on his shoulders and take Indian Cricket as far as he can.
MS Dhoni shaking hands with Chris Rogers in his last test
And that someone else is none other then Virat Kohli. Starting from South Africa’s Test series in December 2013, Kohli, batting at number four, shouldered the responsibility of carrying the innings together. Against New Zealand too he was successful in doing the same.
In both the tours, Kohli scored two centuries and two half-centuries in a total of four Tests.
Then came the tour of England, where India had to play five Tests. I still remember that before the tour, former Indian player Sanjay Manjrekar was quoted in saying:
“Expect Kohli to score atleast three centuries in England.”
And he was right in saying this because even we all expected this from him. But, we and even Kohli didn’t know that tour would prove to be his biggest nightmare. In the five Tests, Kohli scored 134 runs at an average of 13.40 with the highest score of 39. It was not that he was out of form, but his weakness of poking his bat outside the off-stump against the deliveries that moved away from him got smartly identified by the England pacers.
Even in ODIs, he flopped, but ended the tour with a fifty in the T20. An extremely horrible tour, but obviously, Kohli got a lot to learn from it.
The good thing noticed about him was that even if he was not in great touch, he was very much energetic on the field and enjoyed the success of other players to the fullest.
After the England tour, India played three ODIs against West Indies and five against Sri Lanka at home. Honestly speaking, it wasn’t expected that Kohli would strike form soon and it would take some time for him to get to back to his business. In the first ODI against West Indies, Kohli failed, but from the second ODI to the Sri Lankan ODIs, Kohli scored two centuries and three half-centuries and also lead India to a (5-0) victory against Sri Lanka.
In short, he was back with a bang and it was a good sign for the team ahead of the all important Australian tour.
The team for Australian tour got announced and as MS Dhoni was injured, Kohli had to captain India in the first Test at Adelaide. Now this is actually interesting. It’s true that he struck form in the ODIs against Sri Lanka and West Indies, but the fact of the matter is that this time around, he not only had to score runs (seeing the fact that he had a dismal tour of England), but also had to make a strong statement with his captaincy also. Leading a young side in Australia and that too in a Test match is never easy. The pressure is huge, sledging from the Australians is at its peak and it’s not easy at all.
The Test started and Kohli showed what he was made of. He lead his troops well during Australia’s first innings and scored a hundred in India’s first innings. Australia set a target of 365 for India to chase in their second innings and in reply, Kohli scored his second hundred of the match and almost took India to the finishing line.
The good thing that came into notice was that he not only lead the side well but also didn’t let his batting get affected due to the captaincy load.
But now comes the biggest question. With MS Dhoni gone, can his Test captaincy change results of Indian Cricket overseas? Well, I would say ‘Yes’ with the following reasons:
1. Kohli is brash and India actually needs a character like him who can turnaround their fortunes overseas.
2. One thing is for sure that unlike Dhoni, Kohli won’t back out of form talented players for too long. Instead, he’ll surely give other youngsters a chance who are actually performing well in Ranji Trophy (Jiwanjot Singh, Vineet Saxena, Kedhar Jadhav, Jasprit Bumrah).
3. His ability to score runs in tough conditions alongwith the captaincy responsibility is unlikely to get hampered and I’m pretty sure that when India in December 2016 go for their next overseas tour, a different story will start to unfold.