Of late, Indian captain Virat Kohli had gone through a terrible experience during team’s tour of New Zealand. It is cognisance of the fact that playing conditions of red and white-ball vary from each other and with this being a case, touring a nation playing white-ball cricket, the red ball is different especially in New Zealand and England where the conditions can be a bit similar.
The run-machine Kohli, who plays considerably well across formats struggled to get going against the high-quality New Zealand pacers.
The skipper Kohli found it really hard to cope with the seaming conditions. In the first two Tests, he was so poor as he got out cheaply in four innings — a rare failure considering a player of his stature.
In fact, it was Kohli’s worst-ever series in Test cricket as he managed to score just 38 runs in four innings. The deadly Kiwi pace bowling unit comprising the likes of Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Neil Wagner and Kyle Jamieson ruffled Kohli’s feathers and kept the top-ranked batsman in check most of the times.
You cannot blame Virat Kohli for a rare failure: MSK Prasad
Prasad’s spell as the national chief selector came to a close couple of days ago, with the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) choosing ex-India left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi as his successor.
In an exclusive interview with The Indian Express, the former chief selector was asked about the current atmosphere of the Indian cricket team.
Considering Kohli’s current form, MSK Prasad was asked about the idea of split captaincy as that might reduce the burden on Kohli’s shoulders, keeping in mind that Rohit Sharma has an excellent record as captain in Kohli’s absence. To which, Prasad spoke in favour of Indian captain Kohli.
“Virat has led the team extremely well for the past few years, with a very high percentage of success across all formats. Having said that, Rohit also holds a good record in the limited opportunities he had in leading the team.
I don’t think it is appropriate to talk about Virat’s form and attribute it to his captaincy, as he was outstanding across formats for the last three years. You cannot pinpoint his failure in only one series, which he had in the last few years. After all, he is human and this kind of average series will happen in one’s career,” MSK Prasad said.
Kohli will be seen in action when his team takes on South Africa for the three-match ODI series, with the first match scheduled to be played at HPCA Stadium, Dharamshala on March 12.
South Africa have already announced the 15-man squad for India tour while Indian team is yet to announce the squad.
However, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly hopes that Joshi-led committee will pick the best squad for the upcoming home assignment.