Virat Kohli: India's lone warrior at Edgbaston
At Edgbaston, India lost yet another opening Test of the series on foreign soil. Team India has a dreadful history of facing defeat in the very first Test of the series away from home; on few occasions, a draw has been salvaged at best, but winning has remained a distant dream for long.
Before the start of the Test, all the talk was about the unusually hot summer England is witnessing in a long time, and how dry the wickets have been this season. The conditions and wicket at Edgbaston turned out quite the opposite: the weather was cloudy and overcast and the wicket offered both seam and swing all throughout the Test match.
This match at Edgbaston proved to be a great advert for Test cricket. Lovers of the game were kept on tenterhooks till the final day of the match; both sides enthralled the spectators with some quality performances. Honours were shared after the first innings; as England managed a lead of just 13 runs as they bundled out the visitors on 274 in reply to their 287.
In the second innings, the host looked in dire straits at 86-6. But the baby-faced debutant, Sam Curran had other things in the mind. He made 63 of 65 balls and strung few useful partnerships, first with Rashid and later with Broad, which eventually proved match winning. For the visitors, Ishant Sharma was the pick of the bowlers picking 5-51 and Ashwin chipping in with 3-59.
The visitors were given a target of 194 runs for victory. Once again the much famed Indian batsmen disappointed, the only beacon of hope were Kohli and Pandya - only for a brief spell. Once these two got out, it was just a matter of time and defeat was inevitable.
Eventually, Indian innings finished on 162 runs, falling short of the target by 31 runs, which meant England go 1-0 up in the 5 match series.
For the visitors, one man stood out: Virat Kohli. In 2014, Kohli had a miserable run in the Test matches in this country. This time around, he looked determined to make up for the last tour. As expected, he faced a stern examination from the English bowlers (especially Anderson) from the word go.
The battle was not only with the quality of bowling on display but with the alien conditions too. He did look ready for a fight, and he fought.
This knock wasn't the typical Kohli innings, this was different. He was beaten umpteen times, the ball did not always hit the middle of the bat. He was hit on the elbow, the drives were withdrawn and there was no muscling of the bowlers on the leg side.
He earned his singles/doubles and ran hard for every run. He was on the field for good part of 15 hours: a testimony to his fitness level. He toiled like a farmer in sweltering heat to reap the rewards once the crop is ready for harvest.
His concentration and patient helped him survive the tough times as wickets kept on falling on the other side. Eventually, he was the last man dismissed, but not before he had taken his team to safety and a statement had been made. Virat, the batsman, finally arrived in England.
Kohli's batting looked cut above the rest in this Test match but he will know for sure that it's a team game and individual brilliance cannot assure victory. However, as far as batsman-ship is concerned, Kohli was the lone man standing at Edgbaston.
For Kohli, the performance in the Test has been satisfactory on a personal note; however, his captaincy still has scope for improvement. He would definitely like to better it in the Test matches to come.