Captaincy has been a new taste for Virat Kohli. With the retirement of Dhoni, the team is entirely composed of a new crop of players. Harbhajan and Ishant Sharma are the only players who have played on a fairly regular basis with the famously experienced Indian test team a few years back. For this team, SriLanka tour is going to be a really important juncture in their respective careers. The thing about Sri Lankan tours is that they are never as easy as they look like. The past records are clearly indicative of the same fact. Hence Virat Kohli is here with a stiff target of achieving what great Indian captains couldn’t. Ganguly, Kumble and Dhoni have all toured Sri Lanka once through their captaincy but none have managed to clinch a series completely. The best among them was done under Dhoni when his men managed to square the series one-all.
Team india Practicing for Tomorrow’s test match
Not going into past statistics and performances, we are talking about the present. Since it has been a long long wait of a full 5 years to get test cricket going between the two nations, this is going to be an incredible contest because lot of players will be facing each others first time in test careers. From Indian point of view, we are talking about a completely different team to that has ever played Sri Lanka. Even the Indian captain Virat Kohli is playing his first ever test match against Sri Lanka, let alone the venue. Only batsman with test experience against Sri Lanka is Murali Vijay who was there in the last tour and played 2 tests.
The new crop of players have their own advantages as well. The main thing likes of Rahane, Vijay, Kohli, Pujara and Dhawan carry here is the experience of playing everywhere. This is the perfect time to tour Sri Lanka for these people because they have toured South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia and have shown promising batting performances in patches. Talking about individuals, there has been all talk going about Murali Vijay to start with. Immense composure and ability to score brisk runs has made Vijay the most vital cog in this Indian wheel. He certainly is no Sehwag who can win matches for India single handedly like the Galle test in 2008. But the Tamil Nadu batsman knows SriLankan weather very well. Having scored runs in absolute difficult circumstances, thi is the tour where he would want to get big big runs. Although not fit for the first test match, we expect him to come back hard for the next match. KL Rahul is expected to open the innings with Shikhar Dhawan. Another very important player for this particular series is Dhawan. The seam movement looks his only weakness and in wickets that are flat and even turn a bit, he looks absolutely comfortable. Ability to play spin well makes him a key in at least the first test match. K.L.Rahul might be the opener with Dhawan for this match who is at the very beginning of his career. After a fluent Sydney century, Rahul has high hopes from himself. Either of Pujara or Rohit Sharma will play at number three for India. Pujara definitely knows that this tour is very very important for his future in test cricket. Virat Kohli is a magnificent player for India and without a shadow of doubt is the flagship sort of player for Indian team.
If I’d to pick two most important batsmen for Galle, they would be Dhawan and Rahane. Rahane has seen lot of Sri Lanka in ODI cricket and has made runs with ease against all oppositions. Rahane’s ability to play crucial knocks in important games is something Indians are looking to see for longer periods. From Sri Lanka’s point of view, even in the practice match, Rahane was someone who looked ominous.
With the buzz of 5 bowlers around the media it looks like Wriddhiman Saha is going to bat at number six for India and after difficult tours of Australia and Bangladesh, this might be career deciding for the bengal wicketkeeper. He knows that at this level, clock can start ticking anytime.
Ashwin looks a certainty in the bowling department. I seriously disagree with the idea of playing 3 medium pacers, so if there really are 5 bowlers playing the game, three must and must be spinners. That makes way for Amit Mishra and veteran Harbhajan Singh in the playing eleven which is a fairly good attack. In fast bowling department, which has always been the weak link in Indian armory, my choice would be to go with Ishant and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Things certainly aren’t going to be easy in this tour for India. The thing with SriLankan tours is that Sri Lankans bat well at home. Age has never been an issue with a retiring Sangakkara and he definitely likes Indian attack. He will look to finish it on a very good note for him as well as his nation, something he couldn’t do in ODIs. Typical Indian batting vulnerabilities make Indians an unpredictable side. Indians tend to proceed well against the known bowlers but sometimes collapse against the off spinners. Nathan Lyon and Moeen Ali have dominated the Indian bowlers in the respective tours though Indians are conventionally good players of spin. Pujara looks an altogether different player against off spinners. So does Murali Vijay on some occasions. One example was in the Australian tour when after scoring an absolute patient 99 at the Adelaide Oval, he looked clueless against Nathan Lyon and just surrendered his wicket to trigger a collapse and a defeat in the end which could have otherwise been a historic victory.
Galle has been a mixed venture for India in tests. While on last tour India lost the opening test at Galle, but it was also host to a famous Indian victory in the 2008 tour in Kumble’s captaincy. Crafted majorly by a champion called Sehwag and a certain Harbhajan Singh, that victory represented that Indians had gone past the fear of Ajantha Mendis and can beat SriLanka in their pitches. I remember the caught behind of Dilshan to Ishant Sharma in last innings to break a crucial partnership at that point. Ishant Sharma by that time had came from the vital tour of Australia and had become the partnership breaker.
The fact that potentially the Indian team is so so better than the results they have brought can’t be denied. Kohli’s men have on plenty of occasions lost the test match with just one or two poor sessions with otherwise a satisfactory performance. But Kohli will only be a successful captain if everything starts falling at the right place. The perfect thing that can happen to Virat Kohli right now is a sweet success of victory in Sri Lankan soil. Something that was last achieved in 1993 by Azharuddin. Kohli is in dire need of winning momentum to take Indian test cricket forward and his young shoulders are overburdened by the hopes of billions. The only way this burden can be felt lighter is by showing the ability to in overseas.