A havoc in Pune led Indian Captain Virat Kohli to change his mind and strategy. Virat Kohli’s is an advocate of 6 batsmen, 5 bowlers strategy. He believes in giving bowlers chance to pick up 20 wickets. But a loss in Pune forced him to change his mindset and make changes in the team combination.
In this long season of Test cricket, Virat had always preferred to go with 5 bowlers, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in lower order give him that freedom to carry on with the same.
On paper as well as on the ground, India’s lower order is effective when playing at home. Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav have all shown resilience batting down the order. Ravi Ashwin and Jayant Yadav have a three-figure score to their name this season.
More importantly, Ashwin and Jadeja are his go-to bowler, other than their effort with the bat, they both have picked up 145 wickets combine. I don’t know what prompted Virat Kohli to go with one extra batsman in Bengaluru and in Ranchi when you have so much option in batting within your bowlers. Especially in Ranchi where you could have included one more spinner, Kuldeep Yadav could have had an impact with his unconventional chinaman bowling. One extra bowler gives you the opportunity to substitute one bowler who is having a bad day. And it is certain, that you will have more opportunities to pick up 20 wickets.
In the first Test at Pune, Indian batting crumbled badly against Australia. In both innings, they were bundled out under 110. Well, I don’t say Virat brought in Karun Nair just cause of this failure; I will be scared to say this because if one bad game can change his old game and strategy it is not a good sign and it shows him as a poor leader.
I personally would love to see Virat coming back to his best 6-5 combination rather than 7-4. One extra batsman with Ashwin and Jadeja in the team at least at home is not necessary. Karun Nair didn’t make full use of the opportunity he got.
For the next Test, you might see Kuldeep Yadav or Jayant yYdav replace Nair in Dharamshala.