ONE-MAN SHOW ?

Tribune News Service

When Virat Kohli is at the top of his game, the likelihood of India winning a One-day International is very high. But there are no certainties in sport. Kohli can’t and won’t win you every match. There will be times when a wonderful player in the opposing team — like AB de Villiers or Kane Williamson or David Warner — will take away a match from India. And there will be times when Kohli will fail. 

Kohli has figured in 18 Indian wins over the last two years. His contribution in those matches is very significant — he averages 81.15 in those 18 wins, and has made four centuries and three half-centuries.

In India’s wins while chasing, his numbers are even more impressive — he averages 127.20 in those 10 victories, with two centuries and two half-centuries. 

Overall, his average in India’s wins is significantly higher than his career average of 52.85. But what happens if he fails? It’s clear that India suffer badly when Kohli fails, as the following statistics from the last two years reveal. His average in India’s losses while chasing is just 32.12, significantly lower than his career average of 52.85. 

These numbers only illustrate what we instinctively know — Kohli is a big-impact player. When he does well, India do well; when he doesn’t do well, India struggle.

This has been seen in the current series, too. He got 85 not out and 154 not out in Dharamsala and Mohali, and India won easily; he got 9 and 45 in Delhi and Ranchi, and India collapsed both times and lost.

Rohit’s role

India are missing the services of the injured Shikhar Dhawan, who made 68, 126 and 78 in the last three ODI innings he played for the team. Ajinkya Rahane has been scoring runs, but he has not quite finished the job. KL Rahul has 100*, 33 and 63* in the three innings he’s played for India (all against Zimbabwe), but he too is unavailable due to injury.

Rohit Sharma, too, is very important in India’s scheme of things. He’s a match-winner, and when he gets going it seems he can’t be stopped, but in the current series, he’s made 14, 15, 13 and 11. Rohit is probably the most talented Indian batsman of his generation, and that’s the reason greater consistency and commitment are expected of him.

Dhoni’s decline

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, after over 200 innings at No. 5 or below in One-day cricket, now wishes to bat at No. 4 because, in his own words, he’s “losing my ability to freely rotate (strike) in the middle”. “So I have decided to bat up and let others finish,” says Dhoni.

Dhoni was brilliant as a ‘finisher’ and India now seek another great finisher who could bat at No. 6 and win matches for India when the pressure is most intense — when the overs are running out and the required run-rate is climbing.

Match-winner Kohli

The decline of Dhoni and the inconsistency of the others have put the focus on Kohli — much the way Sachin Tendulkar was India’s sole hope for much of the 1990s. 

Dhoni has said that India need to groom players who could finish games, batting at No. 5 or lower. But excellent ‘finishers’ are extremely rare and it may not be possible to create them. You can only get lucky with such players — like India got with Dhoni or Australia with Michael Bevan. More important is for the other top-order batsmen to throw their weight behind Kohli.