India's disappointing loss in Galle reveals the task facing Virat Kohli as captain

Note: This article was first published on Saturday, 15 August after India lost to Sri Lanka in Galle If MS Dhoni was paying attention, perhaps he allowed himself a little smile after India’s stunning 63-win loss to Sri Lanka in Galle. He wouldn’t be happy India lost, of course. That would presumably sting. But the manner of India’s defeat showcased old frailties and offers support for Dhoni’s more conservative brand of leadership in Test cricket for which he has been heavily criticised. After the loss, India captain Virat Kohli fronted up and defended his strategy of playing five bowlers, saying that if he chose to play five bowlers, he couldn’t turn around and now wish he had an extra batsman. “Our responsibility is to bat in a proper way, which we failed to do today,” he said.[caption id=“attachment_2394206” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] India captain Virat Kohli and his team have a lot to work on. AFP[/caption] Kohli’s refusal to panic or look for excuses to explain away a poor session of cricket is a good sign. A captain must have the courage to back his convictions (something Dhoni excelled at). But the defeat also showed that tough talk aside, there is much work to be done for Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri to transform this India side into a fighting unit that battles to the bitter end. First, the team’s tendency to lift its collective foot off their opponent’s neck is something that needs urgent addressing. The tide of the Test started to turn when India allowed Sri Lanka’s lower middle-order, and Dinesh Chandimal in particular, to get on top of the bowlers after lunch on day three. This is an old failing going back to 1932, as Sunil Gavaskar pointed out. More recently, India had New Zealand 94 for 5 in January 2014 and an innings victory seemed inevitable. Then Brendon McCullum made 302 and New Zealand declared their second innings at 680 for 8. Luckily, there was no time for India to bat again. Kohli was asked about the bowling while Chandimal was scoring freely. He replied saying as long as India had the lead, the bowlers should keep trying to take wickets and bowl attacking lines. The irony is that when Dhoni would revert to a defensive field when an opposing batsman counter-attacked, he was often criticised for backing down too soon. Whatever the approach, India appear to relax mentally with the ball, perhaps believing the game is won before the proverbial fat lady starts to sing. This is a habit Kohli needs to break if India want to win games consistently. There will always be match-turning innings but the frequency with which India concede them points to the team playing as much of a role as opposing batsmen. Second, and this might play into the trend above, is the lack of discipline in India’s bowling attack. R Ashwin and to some extent Amit Mishra aside, India rarely built up the pressure the way Rangana Herath and Tharindu Kaushal did on the final morning. While Kaushal took five wickets in the first innings, he was far more wayward than in the second, when he took three. But in the second innings he didn’t allow India’s batsmen to breathe and Herath at the other end reaped the rewards (Herath bowled brilliantly too, and produced two special deliveries to dismiss Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane). The bowlers were always going to produce the odd wicket-taking delivery on this pitch but as a unit, they failed to generate sustained pressure. India’s fastest bowlers are the worst offenders, as Dhoni has repeated pointed out. His preferred solution was to dispense with the fast bowlers altogether. Kohli believes in the potential of pace, but unless that pace can be tempered with discipline and consistency, that belief isn’t going to translate into results. Kohli needs to talk the BCCI into hiring a top-notch fast bowling coach – there are plenty of top ex-fast bowlers who would willingly do the job – so India don’t waste another generation of fast men. Third, the batsmen’s inability to play spin was once again on display. The only player to emerge from the second innings with any credit was Ajinkya Rahane, who was decisive in the way he went back or came forward. The key to playing spin, especially on a turning track, is to be decisive. You can come down the track or stay back. You can choose to sweep or choose not to sweep. But you have to choose and back yourself that you have chosen right. Over the last three years, India have now been exposed by Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann at home, by Moeen Ali (Moeen Ali!) and Nathan Lyon away. And now again by Herath and Kaushal. Some time spent in the nets by each batsman to figure out a method that works for them would not be amiss because Sri Lanka’s spinners aren’t going away. Finally, as Kohli pointed out in his post match press conference, India were timid in the chase. “Theirs was a classic display of being fearless,” he said. “Our display was a classic case of people going out and being tentative … If you play defensively as a unit, you will always put yourself under pressure.” It is Kohli’s stated desire that India play loose and with confidence no matter the situation. But it will take time for his philosophy to take root, especially since that was not the approach of his predecessor. Under pressure, human nature is to retreat to what is comfortable. Avoiding risk, or appearing to avoid risk, is how India has historically approached the game of cricket. What the team needs is a victory that comes out of playing aggressive and free cricket to settle them down and instill the belief that this approach does work. For three days it looked like this Test would give them that but ninety minutes of poor batting ruined it. The task will be harder now that India lost in such spectacular fashion but that does not mean it is no longer worth pursuing, though this will be the hardest transformation of all for Kohli to pull off because it goes against the grain of history. There is one more factor that bears mentioning and that’s the Decision Review System. There were a handful of poor decisions in this Test match for both teams that DRS would have overturned. How that would have affected the match will remain forever unknown but it once again revived the conversation around India’s refusal to use it. Kohli refused to be drawn into the debate but also indicated India might be open to changing their stance. “DRS is not an issue I want to debate. When the series is over, we will figure out how important it is or how much we want to use it. We only have ourselves to blame for the way we played. Don’t want to get into DRS or the other issues. Keep the questions to how badly we played.” Kohli’s refusal to use DRS as a crutch for his team’s defeat is both admirable and honest. It would be good for cricket if India did accept it but whether or not they do, Kohli showed that he isn’t going to shy away from tough questions or make excuses when his team performs badly. That at least offers some consolation on yet another a disappointing day for Indian cricket.