3 frequent mistakes that Virat Kohli and India need to stop committing
After the end of the second day's play of the first Test against England, Virat Kohli must have been a fairly satisfied man. Despite the middle order wobble, India had come within 13 runs of England's first innings total - that wasn't something many would have expected mid-way through the innings.
When it comes to match preparations though, the Indian captain has a tendency to take things a little too far. Kohli must have come to the tour of England with a bag of regrets. Firstly, for missing out on his English county stint with Surrey in June due to a disc injury and secondly, for seeing Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Wriddhiman Saha on the injured list of players ahead of the first match.
A fine century is all that was required for Kohli to conquer the demons of his 2014 England tour in which he managed to score a meager 134 runs in 5 Tests. Four years later, in the first Test of the series, he did it in style with a brilliant knock of 149 runs when it mattered the most.
When the entire batting unit failed to deliver, it was Kohli who took India to a respectable score of 274 runs in reply to England's first innings score of 289. But that doesn't change the fact that India have been trying too many things to retain their No. 1 Test spot.
Here are 3 common mistakes which India and Kohli need to address with immediate effect.
#1: Too much experimentation with the batting line-up
Kohli has tried a huge number of players in the batting line-up. From the inexperienced Abhinav Mukund to the talented Karun Nair to ODI specialist Rohit Sharma, a number of batsmen have been tried and tested in the long format of the game.
And now for the first match, he dropped Test regular Cheteshwar Pujara to accommodate KL Rahul - a decision that has raised a number of eyebrows.
Kohli must seek inspiration from the era of the 'Fab Five' which comprised of Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly. That was a period when the Indian batting line-up remained unchanged for close to a decade until Ganguly's retirement in November 2008.
The confidence of players gets dented when a side is experimenting too much with the batting line-up. A lot of camaraderie is built when the same players are consistently used in the lineup. Also, a regular set of players is more likely to tackle a crisis situation with ease - since they know the strengths and weaknesses of their team members.