Make no mistake, Virat Kohli prioritising his family over cricket should not be frowned upon. He is entitled to his leave of absence. Ahead of the first Test, a BCCI press release carried the information that India’s batting superstar was opting out of the first two matches of the five-Test series due to personal reasons. Now, it is all but confirmed that Kohli won’t be available for at least another two matches, in Rajkot and Ranchi. The BCCI urged everyone to respect the player’s privacy and not speculate. A fair call, which should be respected.
England coach Brendon McCullum has described the ongoing series as “a heavyweight fight”, and the first two matches have provided ample evidence that things could go down to the wire. From that perspective, India missing their batting x-factor is a setback that has to be dealt with. The hosts lost the first Test, mainly due to the fact that they missed out on another 70-80 runs in their first innings. The batters got out after getting in. India winning the second Test to square the series was down to individual brilliance – Jasprit Bumrah, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill. In both games, however, Kohli’s absence was felt.
Is it also affecting Rohit Sharma’s form? It’s a valid question, given the skipper’s string of low scores in the first four innings of the series. Rohit so far has scored just 90 runs at an average of 22.50. In the first innings in Vizag, his approach against Shoaib Bashir, the debutant off-spinner, was very un-Rohit-like. There’s a school of thought that the 36-year-old is putting extra pressure on himself, thinking about captaincy, which is affecting his batting.
Without Kohli, Rohit is missing an ally on the field who is always in his ears with inputs. This obviously puts an extra burden on the skipper. Also, Kohli keeps the morale high when the chips are down. The team’s body language during Ollie Pope’s innings in Hyderabad was a case in point. As shoulders started to drop, it definitely felt like India were missing Kohli – his aggressive presence – in the field. The hosts will have to deal with it in the series, for a Bazball-fuelled England response is due in Rajkot.
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If Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal dazzled with the bat, it was Jasprit Bumrah who wreaked havoc with his fiery spell against England.
Let’s hear about the invaluable impact of Bumrah’s presence on Team India straight from the cricketing legends.@ThumsUpOfficial… pic.twitter.com/62p7bYXWxh
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) February 8, 2024
Then, there is the curious case of Shreyas Iyer, who is reportedly suffering from back spasms that could rule him out of the remainder of the series. Interestingly, Iyer looked fighting fit when he took a blinder to dismiss Zak Crawley during England’s first innings in Vizag, followed by his brilliant run-out of Ben Stokes in the second. Did the middle-order batter experience back spasms at the end of the second Test?
Iyer hasn’t been scoring runs in the longer format for a long time now. In seven Tests over the past 12 months, the 29-year-old has scored 187 runs at an average of 17. He failed to register a significant score in the first two matches against England, making 35, 13, 27 and 29 in the four innings in Hyderabad and Vizag. Will he be dropped, under the pretext of picking up an injury? There’s enough scope to read between the lines.
The good news is that KL Rahul will be back and is likely to come in as a straight swap for Iyer in the XI. As for Rajat Patidar, he will get another opportunity to prove his mettle at the highest level. Patidar didn’t score many on his debut in Vizag, but he didn’t look uncomfortable against spin, waiting for the ball and playing late.
Ravindra Jadeja is fifty-fifty to make the Rajkot Test and if he misses out, India yet again will have to play with a long tail, especially with KS Bharat contributing very little as a batter. Bumrah, meanwhile, is unlikely to be rested, on the heels of a nine-day break.
Having a depleted squad has its upside also, for it presents an opportunity to the replacement players to make their mark. It’s about taking up the responsibility and rising to the occasion. Jaiswal has done that brilliantly in the first two Tests. Gill now has a sound platform – his hundred in Vizag – to build on and cement his place as a No. 3. In a porous middle order, where at least one place is up for grabs, a good knock from Patidar could do a world of good for his future. And in the bowling department, opportunity beckons for Mohammed Siraj – he is expected to return to the squad – to establish himself as a reliable partner for Bumrah even in Indian conditions.
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