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Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli as Test captains (Source: AFP)
India have started a new era in Test cricket under Shubman Gill. The results have been pretty decent so far, with a young team managing to draw a series in England. They also dominated the first Test against the West Indies and stamped authority for the most part of the second Test in Delhi.
However, West Indies did put up a fight in the second innings after being asked to follow on and managed to score 390, dragging the Test to the final day. Shai Hope and John Campbell scored centuries as well, and thus, it has sparked a debate about the lack of penetration in the Indian bowling attack compared to the one in the past.
India's bowling domination under Virat Kohli
In the last 10 years, India have been pretty dominant in Test cricket and for the large part of it, Virat Kohli was at the helm. He is known to have re-energised Test cricket in India, and the Men in Blue never lost a home series under his leadership. India also won overseas more frequently under his leadership, and the way he handled the bowling attack proved inspirational in many ways.
Numbers of hundreds scored against India
| Criterion | Virat Kohli (2015- Jan 2022) | Post-Virat Kohli |
| Matches | 67 | 36 |
| 100s | 32 | 31 |
If we look at the numbers, the above table shows that under Virat Kohli, only 32 centuries were scored against India in 67 Test matches. Whereas after Virat Kohli's captaincy ended, 31 centuries have already been scored against India in 31 Test matches.
It shows that under Virat Kohli, the opposition teams hardly got big scores and India's bowling was upto the mark more often than not. It shows the quality of Virat Kohli as Test captain and how he handled his bowling resources and managed to get the best out of his bowlers.
However, the bigger question is whether Virat Kohli's captaincy is the only factor that played a role in India's bowling success from 2015 to 2022. Let's try to understand the whole scenario.
Formation of lethal group of pace bowlers
The pacers like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami all made their debut before Virat Kohli took over the captaincy, but had their best time under Virat Kohli's leadership. A lot of credit for it should go to Virat Kohli, who did not shy away from trying out raw pace options like Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, early in his leadership era, even though they were known to be erratic with their lines and lengths.
Eventually, Umesh Yadav matured, and the same goes with the likes of Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who, after playing two to three years in international cricket, started understanding more about their bowling around 2016-17. They bowled at their best for the next few years, while Ishant Sharma also emerged as a more accurate bowler under Virat Kohli's captaincy.
Jasprit Bumrah also emerged on the scene in 2018, and it helped India form a potent pace attack, which helped them keep the opposition in check even in overseas conditions. The fast bowlers tend to be at their best around 30 with more maturity and understanding of their bodu, and so having Shami, Ishant Sharma, and Umesh Yadav all at their peak helped Virat Kohli during his leadership era.
Ravindra Jadeja-Ashwin maturing into Test legends
If we talk about the greatest match-winners for India in the last decade or so, Jadeja and Ashwin are right up there. They made their debut under MS Dhoni and though they did well under him too, they really found their Test mojo as not only bowlers but all-rounders in home conditions under Virat Kohli.
Now, it boils down to them getting more experienced by the time Virat Kohli took over the leadership. Thus, they were more equipped to take over responsibility with both ball and bat from 2015 to 2022 after learning the craft in the initial few years of their career.
Role of pitches in different eras
Since 2022, the pitches in England have flattened a bit as Bazaball has been more focused on batting domination. However, conditions were tough for batting when India toured in 2018 and even in 2021, which also played a part in opposition batters not getting big scores.
The pitches in India, too were spin-friendly for most series under Virat Kohli's leadership. Even though that trend continued under his successors, there were few series like the one against England in 2024 where the pitches were such that bowlers had to work a bit harder and batters got more chances to show their talent. The pitch in second Test against West Indies also has less demons than the ones seen in Delhi in the previous few occasions which played a part in West Indies fighting back in the second innings. Thus, pitches in some series and in some parts of India and world also played a part in growing big scores against India post Virat Kohli captaincy era.
Team in transition
Under Virat Kohli, most of the bowlers who are now legends of Indian cricket were at their peak, but in the last few years, many of them have made way for the younger players. Thus, the new players naturally would take some time to find their groove and cannot be of the same class.
Shami is now struggling with an injury, and the major onus of fast bowling has fallen on Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. On the spin bowling front, the legendary Ravi Ashwin has retired, and his successors are still not that experienced and are working their way into international cricket.
Conclusion:
A captain is a key factor in bringing out the best from the players, and Virat Kohli was an expert in doing so in his Test captaincy era. He revolutionised the way India approached Test cricket and instilled a ruthless attitude, which reflected in India's bowling performance. However, at the same time, he got help from some of the world-class bowlers who were at the peak during his captaincy, and together they created an era of domination in Test cricket for India. However, Indian bowlers have also done well post Virat Kohli captaincy era and some big scores in the recent past are a result of varied factors and not only change in leadership.
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