Nawab 2.0

He is the prince. He has arrived. He is your next king. He is Virat Kohli.

Seeing him bat with discipline and responsibility, Allan Donald is reminded of Sachin Tendulkar. The devastating style of batting along with overflowing passion reminded Sir Vivian Richards, arguably the most dangerous batsman ever, of himself.  With the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar, Ian Chappell believes Virat Kohli is the batsman that every bowler fears to bowl at.

There is not one country he has played and not scored a century in. There is not one dull moment on crease with him hogging the strike. Between the trademark, effortless drives through the covers, back foot punches and mid-wicket pulls, there is not one shot he cannot play. Be it inside out over wide long off or be it a flick to mid-on or be it a nudge to fine leg, he has almost every shot in his book. Strong off the front and back foot, he has an exquisite batting style and an orthodox technique. Add cheetah’s legs between the wickets and a picture perfect front foot defense to that. What you get is a near perfect batsman and arguably the best in this era. 

A cursory glance at his numbers will reveal his clout. A piece on Virat Kohli without his prowess on chasing is incomplete. His determination is second to none and that has made him the master of chases. Batting second, in the 75 innings, Kohli averages 63.43 at a strike rate of 92.03 with twelve centuries. However when the equation is successful run chases, the numbers gets even bigger. He, with his bat, has lead India to victory 64% of times he has batted in the second innings at an average of 84.40 and a strike rate of 95.98 while doing so.

The intimidating style of his batting however can be understood what happens to the team when he has a rare failure. India has lost 45 ODI games with Virat Kohli's name in the team sheet. Breaking down,

1) India lost sixteen times when he has got out for a score less than or equal to ten.

2) When he has managed to score something between  11-20, 21-30 and 31-40, India lost 7, 3 and 4 games respectively.

So, to conclude, his failure to score at least 41 runs equates to 66%(30 out of 45) of total losses.

So what happened when he managed to score more than 40 in the remaining 34%(15 out of 45) of games we lost? He went on to make at least a fifty and outscored his teammates in twelve out of fifteen games giving his best. (Thirteen fifties and two centuries)

This is what Virat Kohli is. When he sets his eyes on a target, he is unstoppable. When he smashed Malinga and co. in Hobart, Sourav Ganguly said that he could hardly believe what he was watching. George Bailey wondered if there is a way to get him out when he went on to score the fastest century by an Indian. 

Having established himself as the leader of Indian ODI batting line up there were always a few murmurs on his ability to bat in tests prior to the tour of South Africa. No one answers critics as he does. This time his answer was a 119 and 96 against the world’s best bowling attack in their backyard. He didn’t stop. Napier and Wellington were the latest to witness -what Adelaide, Colombo, Hambantota, Dhaka, Johannesburg, Hobart, Harare, Cardiff, Port of Spain and various Indian cities did- this guy from Delhi mastering the art the batting.

Virat Kolhi is the top scorer in ODIs since his debut. Sangakkara who played 8 more ODI games since then is 61 runs behind. The next best Indian batsmen, Dhoni is 999 runs behind. In tests where he is supposedly not ‘that good’, he has the most runs scored for India since his debut.

In a nation that grew up idolizing batting in Sunil Manohar Gavaskar & Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Virat Kohli is all set to become the next superstar, if he isn't already.

There must be something that sets him apart from millions, no?

He is talented. But as they say, having the talent is one, using to the fullest is another. He is one of the rare ones who does. He is determined. He is a hard worker. He has a good knowledge of the game. He learns from his mistakes. More importantly he adapt himself.

Dravid recently said how Virat sought advises from himself and Sachin Tendulkar way before the series in South Africa. Martin Crowe who is happy to be called as ‘Virat Kohli fan’ is proud of his former pupil who has learned to play straighter and better than what he used to in 2008.

The unfathomable commitment, that attitude of leading the team from the front, the determination to give anything and everything to the team makes him what he is - a Champion.



[ Images from Google, Cricinfo, NDTV]

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C for Change

On the general notions, MS Dhoni will go down as the most successful captain of the Indian Cricket team. It’s hard to argue the other way with him having his name on the two World cups and a Champions’ trophy to his honour. But the never ceasing overseas embarrassments will suggest otherwise.

What possibly could be the reasons behind a highly regarded captain’s deficiency in inspiring the troop overseas? Or he isn’t great as he is perceived to be? Or he is just a home great? (You have to exclude the England's tour of India though. But it doesn’t matter. Just like having one odd success of Champions Trophy in the dry pitches overseas.)

‘A bad captain can make a great team look ordinary’, this was from the India’s youngest and the greatest captain ever, Nawab of Pataudi lately Mansur Ali Khan, thanks to Indira Gandhi. Statistically again the current captain has far better numbers. If this is not the citation why statistics is not everything then not any could ever be.

Now, this is a great team? Certainly not.  A team that boasts to have one whose legs tremble with the short ball, the team which has openers of iffy technique, the team that has a lead spinner who has forgotten the art of picking wickets can never be termed ‘great’. If you read it again, this is the other place where the captain has failed apart from the oft repeated tactical flub ups.

“Captain is as good as his team”.

The above statement is partially true and certainly it isn’t dubious. The lazy perception will prompt to close the argument in the favour of Dhoni. A close look will suggest the glitches. The captain is sworn to pick and choose his team. Pick a good team, lad.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has a policy of picking players and giving them a long-winded rope. This is a great thing to do especially in this age of hasty and nasty decisions. No issues, if there are going to be viable returns to the ‘investments’. A rope is fine as long as it doesn’t get longer enough to get snapped. 

How worse were/are the ropes? Here are the prominent undeserving ropes that were offered.

Raina, the CSK mascot, was picked in the team to face New Zealand even after averaging 26.11 in his last 27 games in which he boasted one fifty against Zimbabwe. He played three more in New Zealand. How does a longer rope matter with Raina? This would make sense at least if there were enough ‘away’ numbers with him. He doesn’t. He averages 27.27 against the non minnows outside sub-continent. He has no centuries to his credit and has two half centuries in 53 games.

Ishant, the hairy bowler with scary consistency, who has the fourth worst economic rate in the ODI history of who had played at least 50 ODIs (Second worst in Indian ODI history), was given the chance to don the blue for the seventy first time. A long rope. After getting one more game, he gave away 118 runs in the fifteen overs he bowled.

Now, questions to Captain after his comment of having “invested heavily”

• Will Ashwin-who has an average of 198 and a strike rate of 216 in his last 8 games, be given an even longer rope?

• Ajinkiya Rahane who has a career average of 22.30 and an average of 9.83 in his last six games will get another game? If yes, why?

• With Rohit’s reputation of inconsistency and Dhawan’s Raina syndrome, how long will the investment last?

• What is the reluctance in testing the bench strength even after a series of underperformances from the heavy investments? Does he not know the result of prolonged and improbable investments?

Sunil Gavaskar speaking to NDTV puts it better, "By sticking to those who have failed, the impression given is that there is no faith in reserve players."

As a captain of a cricket team, you certainly need not to be a tactical commander which he isn’t. The key here is team rotation. The man management. The recipe lies in picking the right men and equally crucial is discarding the misfits. With a meticulous plan letting them know their respective skills, the next step is to get the most out from every member of the team.

With the world cup approaching, we may have to forget about defending the trophy if the captain-apart from the tactical blunders- is going to err in the team selections. We are badly in need of new ideas, better thinking and a better plan. Will Dhoni step up? Will he get rid of his underperforming core for the deserving people who are warming the benches? I will leave you these questions which probably will remain unanswered.

Hope the Indian cricket doesn’t pay for his farfetched, imbecile and imprudent investments. We can only hope. 

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