During the 1983 West Indies tour of India, Wesley Hall, the former fast bowler and manager of the team, was chatting with a few of us at Kolhapur where the match between his team and West Zone was being played.
Discussing the principle of team combinations he said, “We, in the West Indies (in those times) believed in playing five bowlers and five batsmen.
It’s simple, if you pick the top players for the country, then they should be able to perform. If five batsmen can’t get us 400 plus in an innings, then you don’t expect five bowlers to get those runs; and if five bowlers can’t get you 20 wickets then you don’t expect five batsmen to get them. Remember, you need to pick top quality players in the team if you have to have five bowlers.”
Considering Hall’s cricketing logic, did the management of the Indian team pick the right combination at Galle? Do we have top quality batsmen who have consistently scored runs on foreign soil and averaged over 40 in Test cricket? Unless big scores are put up on the board, how can one expect bowlers to pick 20 wickets to win matches?
In present times, the five-bowler theory is propagated by the England team when playing at home, as it has two allrounders in the line-up. Apart from R. Ashwin, who has a Test hundred to his name, none in the Indian bowling line-up is capable of getting big scores or having big partnerships with a specialist batsman.
Big risk The Indian team took a big risk playing five bowlers in Galle when M. Vijay, the in-form opening batsman, was injured. Especially in lieu of the facts that Rohit Sharma averaged around 20 on foreign soil, and K.L. Rahul is an inexperienced opener at the Test level. With the batting not receiving the much needed reinforcements, India, virtually relied on Dhawan, Kohli and Rahane to get big runs.
Young Kohli wants to show his intent to win matches abroad, but that should not be at the cost of the balance of the team. To have intent is one thing and to execute it is another thing. Dhoni rarely played five bowlers as captain even though he was a very good No. 6 batsman. Now Dhoni is replaced by Wriddhiman Saha at 6, who is inexperienced too.
To play only three in-form batsmen out of a total of six places and expecting bowlers to win a Test match was asking for a miracle.
Perhaps the tour game gave the team management the wrong message that the team could go in with five bowlers. However, Kohli should discuss possible alternative combinations for the future with Ravi Shastri.
It’s not correct to criticise the captain after one loss but one gets the feeling that India underestimated the inexperienced Sri Lankan team. In international cricket that is the worst possible move to make. Teams led by great leaders have lost matches from winning positions when rival teams were underestimated.
On the other hand one may say that losing is part and parcel of sports but playing competitively means playing to win. If positive results do slip away frequently, then a solution needs to be found. As a 21-year-old captain, Pataudi too won hardly anything. We have to be patient with Kohli, who is in his infancy as captain, to deliver.
