2021 — The year where Kohli wasn’t “Virat.”
Virat Kohli, the best batsman in the world, didn’t have the best year, neither with the bat nor as captain in 2021. Barring the Test Wins against England in the English summer, nothing seemed to be going in Kohli’s way. Things started going downhill when he, out of nowhere, decided to step down from T20I captaincy to manage his workload in the middle of September 2021. He also announced that he no longer intended to continue as RCB captain from the end of the season. His resignation announcement came even before the second leg of the IPL was about to begin and when a marque ICC event was just around the corner.
The timing of his resignation was contentious because the entire focus was hijacked by his resignation rather than the task at hand- winning the ICC trophy. After India’s unceremonious exit from T20 World Cup, there was a change in guard. Rahul Dravid took over the mantle from the outgoing coach Ravi Shastri. Rohit Sharma was appointed the new T20 captain for team India. A new dawn had begun in Indian cricket.
Virat had made his intentions clear regarding his will to continue as ODI and Test Captain after stepping down as T20I captaincy. However, his unilateral announcement to continue as ODI skipper probably irked the Big Daddy- BCCI. BCCI saw an excellent opportunity after India’s debacle at the T20 World Cup to cut Kohli to size by stripping him off his ODI captaincy.
The manner in which Kohli was sacked was utterly disgraceful and shambolic. Marking the exit of India’s most successful captain via a footnote in a press release was an embarrassment that the BCCI could have easily avoided. However, this sacking was inevitable. The fate of Virat’s ODI captaincy was probably sealed on the day India crashed out of the World Cup.
India won an astounding 65 ODI matches out of the 95 played under Virat’s captaincy with an unbelievable win percentage of 70.43 %. But there’s a catch. Numbers always do not depict the real story. India won many bilateral ODI & T20I series under Kohli, both home and away. Very few people remember the limited-overs bilateral series victories because of the humongous volume of limited-overs cricket being played these days. Memories of limited-overs bilateral series wins begin to fade over time.
The main objective and significance of limited over bilateral series are to prepare for the multi-nation tournament, to give opportunity, test new players, try and fill in some holes in the well oiled bilateral series-winning juggernaut. Under Virat’s captaincy, India ticked the boxes by winning so many series. However, when it mattered the most, Kohli’s India failed to stand up and deliver, year after year, event after event.
Now, many argue why is there an obsession over winning ICC tournaments. Do they matter so much? Yes, they do. Ask the God of Indian Cricket, who had to wait 22 long years to win the World Cup in 2011 who described it as the greatest moment in his cricketing career. ICC tournaments matter because they are multi-nation tournaments where the teams play different teams and have only one opportunity to beat them and advance to the next round. Each opposition presents a unique and diverse set of challenges. That’s why you have to be at your absolute best to be deserving to be crowned as World Champions.
In limited-overs bilateral series, you play the same team not once, not twice, but at least three times, sometimes even five. Kohli’s India are known to make comebacks after being down in the dumps. There’s a pattern that can easily be seen. When their back is ripped off against the wall, when they are held at gunpoint, that’s when his incredible team create alarm bells in opponent camps. Thirty-six all out,3–1 victory come from behind victory against England after a comprehensive defeat in Chennai to win the series 2–1. After Lord’s success, we were battered and bruised by England in the next test. However, we made a surreal comeback at The Oval. Although the format is different, the belief and intent remain the same. So do the majority of the players. After losing the ODI series, we won the T20I series handsomely, even in Australia. Kohli’s Indian team has some crazy self-belief, never say die attitude and the ability to make comebacks from unbelievable situations. Much of the credit for this goes to Virat’s zeal and tremendous energy that rubs off the entire team.
However, this has its limitations. Unfortunately, its limitations are starkly reflected in India’s underperformance in ICC tournaments. That’s because you don’t play the same opposition twice in multi-nation tournaments. Bilateral series offer the luxury for the teams to regroup, go back in the drawing-room, reassess their strategies and make a strong comeback. That’s what Virat Kohli is best at making comebacks. He is India’s comeback King. However, ICC tournaments do not offer a second chance in knockout games, and that’s a chink in India’s armoury exposed by many opponents.
India’s inability to win critical moments in crucial knockout games has been highly frustrating to watch for the fans. It would have been a different story had the team been undeserving of being the Champions. However, after being tournament favourites in almost every tournament, India’s performances in knockout games have been highly disappointing. This drought has continued for eight years now. So despite the superior record in the bilateral series, the elusion of an ICC trophy will be a golden opportunity missed for Kohli because a captain is remembered for the number of trophies that he won in multi-nation tournaments. In 2021, Kohli had an opportunity to win them not once, but twice, but yet again, India failed to win a single trophy.
However, due to the longevity of the Test matches, the bilateral Test series victories are always cherished and rarely forgotten. Even after 20 long years, the memory of the 2001 Eden Gardens Victory against Australia is as fresh as a daisy. However, one can barely remember the highest run-getter of any Indian T20 or ODI victory in 2016 (for example) because it begins to fade over time. We tend to remember great knocks played in multi-nation tournaments in ODI or T20 cricket unless those knocks have broken or created new records like Rohit Sharma’s three double centuries in ODI cricket.
The events that led to Kohli’s abrupt sacking from ODI captaincy could have easily been avoided had there been clear communication between the parties involved. However, lack of clear communication came down to cheap gossip columns, leaks, conspiracy theories, and avoidable controversies. Indian cricket was the biggest loser in all this.
Kohli’s constant chopping and changing of players and inability to maintain a set combination even when India were on a winning streak were constantly under the scanner. In the recent Ravichandran Ashwin interview, he contemplated retirement and felt like being thrown under the bus, further fuels the fire. The most crucial thing in senior cricket coaching is man-management because everyone who plays at the highest level has the right skill and technique. That’s the primary reason they play for India in the first place. Constant chopping and changing personnel with no player given a longer rope created a sense of insecurity among many players.
Lack of stability in team selection was a disappointment in Kohli’s tenure as limited-overs captain. The best example is of Number 4 spot before the 2019 World Cup, and almost every player auditioned for that spot, but nobody got it. We had a new player batting at that slot in every new series played in the lead-up to the 2019 World Cup. Finally, after much screening and deliberations, when it was decided that Ambati Rayudu would be India’s no 4, he was dropped at the last moment as he wasn’t considered a 3D player.
Ice cool calmness with aggressive intent will be the defining culture of the Men in Blue, with Dravid as coach and Rohit as captain. The duo will bring calmness in the dressing room, stability in team selection with a longer rope for players, thereby removing insecurity with less chopping and changing. Rohit even spoke about giving a long rope in a recent interview. So these are exciting teams for Indian cricket ahead with the appointment of the right personnel in the right formats as skippers.
In 2022, I hope Virat can rediscover and be the batting beast he is known to be over the years. I hope Virat can rediscover his batting mojo and unleash havoc on the opposition that would make him the most feared player in the opposition ranks. It is a known fact that Virat holds Test Cricket very dear to his heart. The best of Virat as a Test skipper is yet to come. Kohli’s India’s domination in Whites is yet to reach its full potential. Once the duo of Kohli and Dravid polish a few things, Kohli’s India in the Whites will hand over crushing defeats to the opposition teams, and the overseas domination of India will only scale up.
