A few hours back two different pieces of news arrived in the Cricket world. For a change, they didn’t concern the widely talked about Eng v NZ Lord’s thriller. Indeed, what a game it was. First, the new ICC ODI rankings revealed the West Indies had plunged further down to 9th on the list, another round of poor news for Jason Holder’s team. Before the 2019 World Cup began, they were already tottering at 8. Second, despite there being a round of rumors concerning his participation in the West Indies tour, it was told that Virat Kohli would be boarding the flight to the Caribbean next month.
But what was interesting about these different snippets of news was that they had absolutely nothing in common and yet, connected the two teams that they concerned.
A persistent rumor surrounding the Indian captain was that Virat Kohli along with Bumrah could be given a ‘rest’, perhaps in lines with two having burned themselves out in what was an elaborate tour.
Make no mistake, Kohli did his share of run-making having struck 5 glorious half-centuries even as he missed out on a big, meaningful three-digit score, something that may have further raised his graph.
But now as the report confirming Virat Kohli’s participation in a series featuring a team that’s nearly a bottom-dweller in ICC rankings arrives, the mind can’t help but ask a question.
Is Virat Kohli absolutely, incredibly important for the West Indies tour?
Shouldn’t he make a place for someone else in a batting line-up that most likely will include accomplished batsmen like Rohit, Dhoni, Rahul, Karthik, Pant and should he recover in time, then Dhawan?
Surely, the likes of Pandya and Pant will travel to the Caribbean in what’ll be the Delhi batsman’s maiden tour of the West Indies.
So any doubts regarding experience and ebullience in the squad are instantly grassed like an impossible catch. The moment you add Kohli to that list, you get a line-up that goes from boasting of power-hitters into being a tall order of fluent run-scorers.
In the just-concluded World Cup, at least 4 of the aforementioned were among regular runs. It seemed Sharma and Virat Kohli had gotten into a knack of scoring hundreds and fifties regularly.
They even scored plentiful of runs on tracks where the ball bit batsmen and scoreboards didn’t reveal lavish runs.
While Rohit Sharma scored 648- the most by any batsman in World Cup- his usual opening partner struck 125, including a sensational ton against Australia, from 2 games.
Dhoni collected 273 runs and remained unbeaten on two occasions while Kohli himself amassed 443 runs.
That India played and got the better of some of the best bowling attacks that can be understood by their dominance against Australia (Starc and Cummins), Pakistan (Aamir and Afridi), South Africa (Rabada and Tahir), and Afghanistan (Rashid Khan and Mujeeb).
Moreover, batsmen, not in the least Virat Kohli, hammered West Indies
Kohli scored a fluent 72 in that game that the West Indies seemed in a bit of a hurry to tackle, in the end plotting their own downfall. Their fans won’t forget that they were bundled out for 143 even as 15 overs remained to be bowled.
In that game, Rahul, Dhoni, and Pandya were all among runs. On that count, shouldn’t an opportunity be extended to the likes of Shaw and Gill?
While Shubman Gill’s just played 2 ODIs, Shaw’s yet to debut.
Can there be a better chance than have Shaw flex his muscles down in the Caribbean, against a side he welcomed with both hands when the opportunity came in 2018 (in Tests)?
Truth be told, the West Indies, despite giving a glimpse of their match-winning fast-bowling potential in- Alzarri Joseph, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas- are yet to take giant strides toward that long-awaited comeback in international cricket.
If you just handle Gabriel and keep Roach (129 and 184 Test wickets respectively) aside for even a second- then the West Indies don’t offer much bite given that their bowling options read Jason Holder with medium pace and Roston Chase with slow right-arm bowling.
Does that unit terrorize you?
To not have Virat Kohli on the tour would still leave India with a team comprising of Dhoni, Karthik, Rohit at the helm of affairs. India’s batting department will still appear robust given the likes of Pandya and Pant will bat around the Trinity.
And beyond the usual rigamarole of selection- who’ll stay in, who’ll miss out- what the selectors must think is that there’ll be a great opportunity to have someone like Mayank Agarwal, already 28, get more exposure.
He’s someone who’s got tons of runs against his name already, 3964 in first-class cricket, to be precise. Shouldn’t he, therefore, be made to feature in the Tests?
A stoic, dependable and old-fashioned disciplined cricketer, Agarwal collects runs at a better rate than Pujara and together the two can dismantle bowling attacks. Remember, in the longest format, India will still have to deal with the problem with plenty as both Pant and Karthik can keep as can Wridhiman Saha.
But the news seems to suggest Kohli will participate even in Tests.
The question that India must consider but seems unlikely to at the end is whether an accomplished, world-class batsman, someone who’s already made a mark for himself can be rested at the cost of giving other rising cricketer’s a break?
After all, with an aging Dhoni on the one hand and a team often reliant on Kohli and Rohit, who are the possible future rescuers of India around whom the core of the batting can be built?
Surely, had this been a series against a Rabada, Phelukwayo, and Ngidi powered South Africa or a Cummins, Starc, and Hazlewood powered Australia then not playing Virat Kohli (deliberately) would’ve been suicidal.
But this is the West Indies. They won’t come at you akin to a nearly demonic pace battery that once boasted of the famous four. The likes of Malcolm Marshal and Andy Roberts or Courtney Walsh and Curtly are long gone.
An unlikely revival often seems a likely reality when the likes of a Shai Hope, Darren Bravo and as seen recently, then Nicholas Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer get going. It’s a different unit altogether when Holder along with Gayle supports the able youngsters.
But can a number 9 side in international cricket gobsmack an army of experienced matchwinners? Doesn’t India with Kohli in it also show its overreliance on the showman?