Virat Kohli: Struggling India skipper must rediscover his perfect blend of aggression and restraint

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  • “I am batting really well. I feel that sometimes scores don’t reflect the way you are batting and that’s what can happen when you don’t execute what you want to well,” Virat Kohli said after India fell to a crushing 10-wicket loss to New Zealand in the Wellington Test.

    Those statements from the India skipper came after he had been dismissed for 2 and 19 in the Test, a continuation of what has been an uncharacteristically poor overall tour of New Zealand.

    A score of 51 in the first ODI against the Blackcaps remains Kohli’s only notable contribution with the bat on the tour in nine innings, and the latest double-failure at Basin Reserve has only compounded India’s woes. While the rest of the team’s batsmen are equally culpable for the first Test debacle, Kohli’s rare lean patch played its part as well in what turned out to be a lopsided contest in the favour of the hosts.

    More than the 31-year-old’s lack of runs in Wellington, it was the manner in which he was dismissed both times that is striking and surprising. His failure in the first innings came after he was tempted into a full-blooded drive by New Zealand debutant Kyle Jamieson in just the seventh delivery he had faced.

    On a swinging track, the result was a thick outside edge which was gobbled up comfortably by Ross Taylor in the slip cordon. It was a delivery pitched comfortably outside the off-stump, and one that Kohli could have well left alone so early into his innings. He did slightly better in the second innings where he lasted a total of 43 deliveries, but was suckered into taking on the pull shot by a rampant Trent Boult.

    Once again, the Indian skipper paid a heavy price for his extravagance with a feather edge finding its way to New Zealand wicketkeeper BJ Watling. Kohli is certainly not from the Cheteshwar Pujara school of Test cricket which involves soaking up all the pressure and preserving your wicket as if your life depended on it. Yet, he is also not the kind of batsman to take to reckless abandon when building a Test innings.

    Kohli went fishing outside his off-stump in the first innings.

    Kohli went fishing outside his off-stump in the first innings.

    This was not the same Kohli, who, just two years ago, was banishing his demons against James Anderson and England in the Edgbaston with a chancy, but colossal 149-run innings brimming with supreme concentration and determination. This was also not the same Kohli who endured several body blows on a minefield of a Centurion pitch before smashing one of the classiest tons of his Test careers. These knocks, and others like his patient 123 against Australia in Perth (2018) are what have defined Kohli’s rising maturity as a Test player and his subsequent ascendancy to the No1 ranking in the format.

    In India’s testing overseas tours of South Africa, England and Australia in the last couple of years, Kohli has learned to mix his aggression with equal parts restraint, and it is a recipe which has really served him well. Hence, to see him abandon this successful philosophy in New Zealand of all places is surprising to say the least.

    For a man who loves to lead by example, Kohli’s nonchalant dismissals in Wellington have not set the right tone for the rest of the Indian team. He currently bears the resemblance of a batsman who wants to start dominating the bowlers from the very go. That has clearly not been his style over the last few years and this newfound eagerness is costing him already.

    With the series being just a two-match affair, there isn’t much time for Kohli and India to ponder over their first Test defeat. If the visitors are to avoid their maiden series defeat in the ICC World Test Championship, they need Kohli to turn back the clock just slightly and rediscover the resolve that made him such a champion batsman.

    He registered at least one century in each country during India’s last overseas tour cycle of South Africa, England and Australia. It would be a big disappointment for him personally and for India, if he isn’t unable to do the same in the final Test against the Kiwis which begins in Christchurch on Saturday.

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