The KISS principle Kohli and India need to master

Virat Kohli knows a thing or two about sending kisses the way of the bowler or even in girlfriend Anoushka Sharma’s direction after reaching a landmark. But sadly, that isn’t the KISS principle that is going to help him or India’s bowlers in the middle.

Instead, he needs to put his arm around his bowlers before every over and keep reminding them of another principle – ‘Keep It Simple, Stupid!’

The Sydney Cricket Ground wicket on Day 1 was very good to bat on. The ball didn’t swing, it wasn’t a quick wicket, the batsmen could hit through the line, the bowlers almost never asked tough questions and India also learnt that captaincy change is no magic pill.

So while Virat Kohli knows a great deal about batting; a great deal more than he knows about captaincy, he faced the same problem that Mahendra Singh Dhoni did during his reign and like his predecessor, he too failed to come up with any concrete answers.

Australia ended the day on 348 for 2. David Warner slammed his third century of the series and Steven Smith looks all set to get another. To make things truly sad, it could have been much worse.

A good batting track means that bowlers need to go in with a game plan and then stick to it. They are not going to get much help from the wicket – so they will need to plan the dismissal or simply wait for the batsman to make a mistake by bowling in the corridor. Instead, this Indian team seems simply incapable of doing that. One wonders why no one in the dressing room even seems to think of these things.

“We talk about it in the meetings all the time. We talk all the right things, we talk line and length, we make plans but we are not able to execute,” said former India skipper Rahul Dravid on television.

The problem with the plans, however, is that doing the simple things however is too complex for a generation of cricketers brought up in the ODI and T20 age. Kohli with 33 Tests – 33 – is India’s most experienced player in this playing XI.

The others have been brought up believing that every delivery needed to be different from the last one lest the batsmen get used to the pace or the line or the length of the ball. Variation, they are told is key, but in the quest for that – the discipline needed to bowl six ball in the same spot is lost.

When Warner is batting – as long as the runs are flowing, he is unstoppable. So the gameplan would be to focus on the simple things – bowl just outside off, tighten it down, bowl line and length to the set field and use the that pressure to force an error. That should work. That does work. But instead, India’s bowlers tend to bowl one short, then one full. Bowling that was bad enough to make Dravid cringe.

“Not looked like taking 20 wickets in any Test match and that is a prime requisite at this level, especially in good batting conditions,” Dravid said.

“Warner can hit you in front of square and then wait a little longer and hit you behind square. But there is not much you can do when it is short and wide,” he added. “Pitch the ball up, you can at least set straighter fields.”

For India, the problem is that many of these bowlers haven’t played enough domestic cricket to figure out their own game. If you ask them to bowl short, then they keep doing that. Are any of them even sure of what their strength is?

Wasim Akram, for example, had a different theory for the short ball.

“I hated the short delivery that the batsmen could leave alone. Freaking hell. I am not going to do that. It has to make him uncomfortable. Let them wait. It’s coming. It’s coming. It’s coming.”

Sometimes the wait is just as scary. If you ask Umesh that question – he will tell you that he is a fast bowler. But does pace alone get you wickets? In international cricket, the answer to that question is a resounding ‘no’.

“You need to have that perspective. I am not sure, he has spent too much time in domestic cricket trying to bowl in one area over after over, session after session,” Dravid further added. “Someone like Umesh doesn’t have the experience of doing that in domestic cricket… day in and day out. He is an attacking bowler in domestic cricket. He just scares people or bounces them out. Does he know what to do here?”

Since 2010 in 26 matches, India have taken 20 wickets in a match just 8 times. South Africa, in contrast, in 35 matches have taken 20 wickets 23 times. Australia in 44 matches, 28 times, Pakistan in 18 matches, 11 times.

India’s bowlers don’t learn. That must is clear and the reason for their struggles is their clear lack of consistency. So they need to be taught.

“Somebody has to tell them that they need to get the basics right. Whether it is Bharat Arun or Ravi Shastri – someone needs to drill it into their head. They need to bowl six balls in the same spot,” said Sourav Ganguly. “That is what works, that is what is needed. It is also the captain’s job to tell them that they need to find a way to bowl in international cricket. At the moment, too many loose deliveries, too many hit-me deliveries.”

Off-spinner R Ashwin was India’s best bowler on Day 1 and the prime reason for that was his ability to bowl a steady line and length.

When Ashwin finally managed to dismiss Warner – his bowling figures read: 15.1 ovs, 3 maidens, 47 runs, 1 wickets, RR 2.96. All the other Indian bowlers at this stage were going at over 4 runs an over.

In fact, after 10 overs, Ashwin had conceded just 21 runs. He also bowled India’s first maiden in the 18th over of the innings. Warner has a primal need to dominate the bowling. He tried things – a reverse sweep, a slog sweep, using his feet to get to the pitch of the ball… things he didn’t need to try against the others and that set things in motions. And that is what led to the wicket.

India’s bowlers have never been great outside the subcontinent. Our best ever bowlers are Kapil Dev (155 wkts, 77 matches, avg 30.0), Zaheer Khan (147 wkts, 66 mts, 31.3) and BS Chandrashekar (38 mts, 92 wkts, 31.3). The averages aren’t world class. In fact, they would just about cut it for some teams. But that is no reason for the current generation to not aspire for better.

And rather than aim for the skies, they need to learn to walk on the ground first; they need to learn how to do the simple things well; they need to learn how to do the basics right.

Six balls in the same spot. It can be as easy as it sounds or as difficult as you make it. It is completely down to the bowler himself. That resurgence won’t happen overnight, but now is as good a time as ever to begin focusing on the simple things – do that or stay stupid and keep losing.