Virat Kohli, not the only difference between India and England

12/23/2016

Over the past year we have seen India go on an unbeaten streak in Test cricket and through this process a number of players have taken giant strides, some well-known players along with some fresh faces. The most recent stint being against the English where the Europeans were thrashed 4-0.

Cricket being a team sport and it can never be just one player who is the difference between the winning team and the losing team. Agreed there is one big player that plays the leading role in the match but there are other players that contribute to a team’s performance too. In the convincing series win against England, Virat Kohli played his part scoring an incredible 655 runs at an average of 109.16 but there were other players that have made their presence felt in the team.

A player with the stature of Virat Kohli is expected to play well every time he steps onto the field and it is natural that he gets the attention for his exceptional performances. But there have been other players who have performed for India when the captain has failed. From the No.1 ranked Test all rounder, R Ashwin to debutants Jayant Yadav and Karun Nair we have seen some inspiring performances from every player in the team against England. Be it with disciplined bowling to make scoring difficult for the English batsman and picking up wickets or by performing with the bat, India had players excelling is every department.

Sidelining the usual perception of Indian seam bowlers not performing in sub-continental conditions, we saw Indian seam bowlers picking up 22 wickets in this series. Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav have been the pick of seam bowlers for India. With their tight lengths and disciplined bowling, the duo ensured that the English batsmen did not get runs flowing at the beginning of innings along with providing their team with crucial breakthroughs when things looked to heading England's way. The performance of these bowlers has helped in releasing some pressure from the spinners as India got early breakthroughs.

Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin were the go to spin bowlers for team India as they picked up 54 wickets between them in the 5 match series. Along with their spinning prowess, we have also seen them perform with the bat. Ashwin scored a total of 306 runs in 7 innings to go with his 28 wickets and Jadeja has scored 224 runs to with his 26 wickets. It is not just about Ashwin and Jadeja though as there have been useful contributions from Jayant Yadav too. He has proved to be a wicket taking bowler and also someone who can provide stability in the lower order. He got to his maiden Test century in only his 3rd Test where he was involved in a breathtaking 241-run partnership with Virat Kohli. With this innings, Jayant Yadav announced himself as the next all rounder to look out for.

Virat Kohli is a batting superstar and it is hard to get past him when he performs the way he has been performing. However, this series has made us look beyond Virat Kohli in the batting department, each and every batsman has contributed in this series victory against England. From Openers to No. 9 batsmen, each of them has performed and given India the platform to go ahead and win the matches.

To start, the openers Murali Vijay, Parthiv Patel and KL Rahul have produced some quality performances throughout the series. Murali Vijay was the constant in the team through the series; scoring 2 centuries. He provided the much-needed platform for the middle order to take over. Parthiv Patel made a comeback into the team after 8 long years owing to the injury to Wriddhiman Saha, the regular man behind the wickets for India. He has proved the selectors right by scoring 2 fifties in the 3 innings as the opener. Scoring runs was the call of the hour for KL Rahul to prove his talent to the selectors as well as himself. After a couple of low scores, Rahul came back with a heartbreaking 199 in the Chennai Test.

At number 3, India had Cheteshwar Pujara coming in and the Rajkot-born lad contributed 2 centuries and a half-century. He scores big hundreds in crunch situations and goes on to save Test matches or provides good platforms to win.

Apart from the top order and lower order performances, there was one performance that stood out in this series. In the Chennai Test, Virat saw a rare failure but Karun Nair, who had averaged 8.5 before the match, came up with a special innings of 303 not out. His special performance ensured that India got a massive 1st innings lead and setup a win by an innings and 75 runs.

Virat Kohli was not the only defining factor between the two teams, it was the performance of the team as a unit that has been the deciding factor. With all these players performing for the team, Indian selectors are now faced with a selection dilemma, with players like Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma returning from their injuries. But that is a headache that the selectors would welcome anyday.

Virat Kohli, not the only difference between India and England

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