India vs Sri Lanka: Virat Kohli got most things right, including his batting, on return to Galle after 2015 disaster

At the end of the Galle Test, Virat Kohli praised Hardik Pandya as India’s answer to Ben Stokes. When you compare a one-Test rookie with the best all-rounder in the world, it shows you and your group are in high spirits. It’s too early to judge the cricketing impact of Ravi Shastri’s return to the Indian dressing room, but the immediate effect seems to be a much more relaxed Kohli. The two sat together for the press conference before leaving for Sri Lanka and constantly sat next to each other in the dressing room balcony, beaming like a newlywed couple, laughing and clapping. It made you wonder whether Kohli’s constant anger during the series against Australia was as much a result of a discordant dressing room as the feisty Australians. Whatever it is, we aren’t complaining when we see Kohli like this.

Whether you like it or not, Kohli is Indian cricket right now and Indian cricket is Kohli, a happy Kohli means happier fans.

In 2015, Kohli captained India to a shattering loss at the same venue. Now in 2017, Kohli came back as the leader of the top-ranked Test side in the world, seeking redemption. He got most things right during the course of the past four days and in the process, left behind the memories of 2015. It started with the selection. Choosing Pandya ahead of Rohit Sharma was a bold and positive mood. Pandya is the enforcer in the side. Batting at number six, he will look to demoralise the opposition when the team is on top giving them more overs to bowl and more chances to go for outright wins. With the ball, Pandya is more than just a change-bowler. He hustles in, bowling at a lively pace, is unafraid to use the short bowl and as he showed in the test match, is always looking for wickets. When Kohli first took reins of this team, he often talked about playing five bowlers every time even if that meany his team lost a few games. He didn’t quite stick to that philosophy all the time as his team lacked the all-round strength against high-quality bowling attacks. [caption id=“attachment_3875099” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli. PTI[/caption] If Pandya delivers on the promise, Kohli can play five bowlers against most sides now. He was always going to need Pandya when the team toured outside the subcontinent. It’s a good move to ease him into the squad during a series where he can play with less pressure and lower expectations, knowing that India has no shortage of match-winners in these conditions. The other characteristic of the Kohli regime has been a clear pecking order in terms of selection. The first choice players always get a chance to return from an injury layoff, no matter how well the replacements have performed. This happened in the case of Karun Nair and Parthiv Patel. One can be sure to see KL Rahul back in the side despite a good show by Abhinav Mukund. In the West Indies, during the ODIs, Dinesh Karthik who was a part of the squad during Champions Trophy — but never got a game — was played ahead of Rishabh Pant. A clear selection policy helps players understand and appreciate the reason for sitting on the bench. It helps them prepare better when they know exactly what they have to do to get back in the side. The only minor blip in Kohli’s captaincy in this particular outing was him going back to conservative field settings as soon as the Sri Lankan lower order began scoring a few runs. Perhaps it’s still the ghost of Galle past that haunts him. These days a lot of teams bat very deep in Test cricket and bowling units can’t afford to take their foot off the pedal when a partnership is developing. Kohli has already marked it as an area of improvement for the team, so we shouldn’t be complaining too much. Kohli’s batting has been a bit up and down in recent times . It’s a credit to Kohli’s precise methods and approach to batsmanship that he can look this good even when he is off-colour. Great batsmen are ruthless at making the most of a start. With Kohli, you know he won’t let you down once he gets a start. After getting out early in the first innings, Kohli had a chance to put an end to the string of low scores in the second innings against a tiring opposition. Some said it was selfish of him to bat on just to get his hundred. A batsman like Kohli who has the entire cricket media after him needs to put an end to the run drought as soon as possible to get back into the right frame of mind as a batsman. Yes, they were easy pickings for him but as my mother once said, “Son, there is no shame in picking low-hanging fruit”.