Kohli doesn't 'believe' in playing with sixth batsman, still backs five bowler ‘template’

Virat Kohli often cops criticism for not changing his approach of playing Test matches, especially in overseas conditions while at the same time also earning high praise from people who believe in his ideas of how to play and succeed in the longest format.

He has always been a strong supporter of playing with five bowlers to have an extra cushion to enforce a result albeit at the expense of putting huge responsibilities on the batting lineup like he did at Lord’s and Headingley. The move worked tremendously well for his side as the quartet of pacers ran rampant throughout the games and got the better of the hosts on an energetic final day. 

However, they could not carry on with momentum as India suffered an embarrassing collapse in the first innings of the third Test to lose the game by a big margin of an innings and 76 runs.

Former greats and his critics have always outlined the risks in playing one extra bowler at the expense of extra batsmen and the collapses such as the one at Headingley have more or less ratified their perspectives. However, staying true to his character, Kohli has not buckled under pressure and innumerable suggestions for outside and always maintained that he sees more rewards than risks in having five bowling options.

As India collapsed for 78 in the first innings and from 215/2 to 278 all out in the second innings at Headingley, he was again confronted with the question of risk vs rewards in terms of selection, and Kohli once again stayed true to his ideas.

He refuted the idea of playing a sixth batsman and reiterated his long-standing scepticism of that “balance” that experts are asking him to weigh on. He chose the dichotomy of either trying to “win the game” by playing an extra bowler or trying to “save a defeat” by playing an extra batsman.

He concluded that if batsmen batting at the top six position can’t produce performances to put the team in front of the game, there is “no guarantee” that an extra batsman will save the day for the side. He said that fielding a playing XI that does not have “resources” to take 20 opposition wickets is not the brand of cricket he and his team play in the longest format.

"I don't believe in that balance. I have never believed in that balance. Because either you can try to save a defeat or try to win the game. We have drawn games in the past with similar number of batters in the team. So, if your top six or seven don't do the job, that extra batter is no guarantee of bailing you out every time,” Kohli said in the post-match press conference.

"You have to accept that as a team you take responsibility and pride in doing the job for the team. If you don't have the ability or the resources of taking 20 wickets going into as Test, then you are only playing for two results. And that's not how we play."

Apart from the debate over a perfect team combination of bowlers and batsmen, Kohli has also had to deal with the composition of the bowling attack. He has taken a brave call of benching a player of Ravichandran Ashwin, who is considered as the best finger spinner going around across the world of cricket and the move is a decisive one, to say the least.

After quite a satisfying performance at Trent Bridge where India had played Shardul Thakur as the fourth bowling option instead of Ashwin, Kohli had expressed confidence in that “template” of four pacers. He did not give up on his ideas albeit Shardul got ruled out of the Lord’s Test and he carried on with a rather more aggressive option of playing with four genuine seamers, who elongated the tail.

The win at Lord’s that came on sheer energy and brilliance of the pace quartet, Kohli chose to stick with them albeit dropping a strong hint that Ashwin was in the reckoning for the Leeds Test. He was once again asked to address the Ashwin conundrum and whether the off-spinner will find a place in the XI for the Oval Test.

Kohli chose to keep the answer close to his chest and pointed out that the team selection is flexible based on the nature of the pitch that will be on offer at the Oval. However, he backed his template of four pacers with the strongest word and said that having the cushion of an extra seamer helps while bowling on a fresh pitch on the first day of the Test match in case the opposition win the toss and decide to bat first.

"That depends on the pitch," Kohli said. "We have to obviously assess the surface that we are going to play on. Forecast is something that no one really knows in this country. It all depends on the pitch. I think this template works. If you are consistent enough, the pressure from the fourth seamer, especially when you lose the toss and you have to bowl first, that comes in very handy because when you have two spinners you can only attack with three seamers and then the spinners are into play on a fresh wicket on Day 1,” Kohli added.

Another area of concern for India could be the workload of pacers having bowled a decent amount of overs in the first three Tests. They got a long break between the second and the third Test and also an extra day rest before starting the fourth day, but Kohli conceded that the rotation of quicks is “bound to happen” as the team management is reluctant to push pacers beyond their limit of workload.

He has all but confirmed that none of the Indian pacers will play all the five Tests of the series due to the short turnaround time between the games. He said that the management will have “sensible and logical” conversations with the pacers to assess their physical state after the third Test before deciding the playing XIs of the future games of the series.

"That's bound to happen. It is a logical and sensible thing to do. You obviously don't want to push individuals to a point where they break down. That conversation is very important. Very sensible and logical one at that as well,” Kohli admitted the workload management issues.

"We will have that conversation with individuals and see who is placed where physically and who needs to have a game off. You can't expect with a short turnaround like this for guys to play four Tests in a row. So, we will have to assess who are the guys who will be given that many days to recover and be okay for the fourth one."

Virat Kohli can choose to be bullish about playing only six batsmen and putting the onus on them to give ample amount of runs for bowlers to execute their plans with confidence. However, he no longer can choose to not address the frequent batting collapses that the team is suffering from in this series and also in the recent past. 

He also has to pick himself after a string of low scores and more importantly with a pattern emerging in his dismissals. He got past the 50-run mark in the second innings and batted with confidence on the third day before being opened up in the channel outside off once again early on the fourth day by both James Anderson and Ollie Robinson. 

If India have to come back after this big loss in Leeds, the onus must be on Kohli and his senior member such as Ajinkya Rahane to do the bulk of run-scoring otherwise another chance of defeating England in their backyard will go wasted.