India vs South Africa | Can a consistency loving Virat Kohli be the end for India?

India vs South Africa | Can a consistency loving Virat Kohli be the end for India?

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When it comes to Virat Kohli, the captain, he has rarely stood up to his batting prowess and as critics have often pointed out, he has mostly stuck to straight formulas to be successful. Wednesday’s T20I saw another such instance when Kohli’s lack of a plan B ended up being fatal for his side.

Oscar Wilde had once stated, “Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.” And, this is one of the primary reasons why Kohli, no matter how much he spikes up his winning percentage as the Indian skipper, would never come in tangent to Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s legacy. 

The former skipper’s decision-making skills and affinity to think outside the box in crucial situations has been something unparalleled and Kohli’s ability to outscore his opponent in any situation, though mesmerising to viewers, can never compensate for the beautiful and unconventional mind of his predecessor. While India are yet to feel that excruciating void in their side, as Kohli’s impeccable batting has always managed to paper over those cracks, we have come across them every now and then in the form of India’s harmless defeats. 

The Centurion T20I, with expected thunderstorms, was a déjà vu moment for the Proteas, whose only win in the limited-overs against India had come from the rain-affected Johannesburg ODI. Heinrich Klaasen was the hero of that game as he had rendered India’s wrist spinners ineffective on the sticky track. And when JP Duminy won the toss and opt to field on Wednesday, his gleaming eyes were hoping for similar blazing innings from his teammate.

The track was slow with the ball stopping considerably before coming on to the bat, which was a big reason why Manish Pandey and Dhoni could forge a 98-run partnership in the last 10 overs and take the score from 90/4 to 188/4. And by the time South Africa came out to bat, the conditions were well-known to both Duminy and Kohli, leaving the game completely down to the battle of wits.

Though India were slightly handicapped in the second innings with the likes of Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah missing from the playing XI, it was a perfect test for Kohli’s adaptability to get his side out of the muddle. South Africa had already established themselves as a dangerous side on the tour while chasing with a DLS sword hovering over their neck, and Kohli had to try something unusual to disrupt their plan.

Klaasen, whose exact words after the fourth ODI were, “No one really struggled to pick Chahal but he seemed to pick up a lot of the wickets. We struggled to pick up the chinaman's variations,” stayed true to his words when he took the wrist spinner to the stands in only his third ball of the match and later followed by another two maximums in the eleventh over. 

With South Africa needing 89 in 60 balls and Chahal already going for 28 in his first two overs, Kohli had enough indications that it was just not Chahal’s day. But as has been the case with Kohli, who has seemingly been suffering from Arsene Wenger syndrome, where a person lacking foresight sticks with his worsening plan hoping that it would work this time, he handed Chahal the ball yet again in the 13th over.



This time, Klaasen hit him for 18 runs in the first three balls with Duminy joining the party too, with another six on the last ball. The ball was clearly not sticking to the wrist spinner’s hand and with just 58 runs needed off 42 balls and six wickets remaining getting dot balls to increase pressure could have been a more effective option. 

With death-over specialist Bumrah unavailable to bowl alongside Bhuvneshwar, India needed someone to keep the overflowing runs in check, and an experienced Suresh Raina could have been a risk worth taking. Dhoni, during his captaining days, has often been seen using his CSK teammate and Yuvraj Singh as part-time bowlers to keep things steady in the quintessential middle overs.

But, for the all the risk-taking accolades that have been associated with Kohli’s captaincy, the skipper decided to go with Chahal again, as soon as Jaydev Unadkat sent Klaasen packing in the 14th over. And as had every person at SuperSport Park had guessed, the misfiring player conceded 14 runs in his last over, taking the game beyond India’s reach.

Though his last over included a surprising stump miss by Dhoni and a catching chance by the bowler himself, which Kohli could argue to be game-changing moments, his lack of another option or ambition to go with an unconventional choice, did eventually cost India two losses in the last four games.

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