Sri Lanka v India: Kohli's chop and change tactic won't work in the long term

“The perfect captain does it his own way, but is open to ideas as to how to change, always,” says former English captain Mike Brearley, widely recognized as one of the greatest thinkers of the game.

Virat Kohli, in his short stint as the Test captain has established this much: He’s his own man, with his own set of ideas, with his own unique style. He has also shown a tendency to ring in the changes with an alarming regularity on and off the field of play.

After backing Rohit Sharma to the hilt for the No 3 position, citing his flair and an ability to change the course of a match in one session, he promptly moved him back to No.5 after twin failures in Galle. With a ready-made solution for the No 3 position in Cheteshwar Pujara, he went for the more dependable and ever-flexible Ajinkya Rahane in the second Test at Colombo. After selecting an initial squad with three spinners and an swing-bowling all rounder in Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, he included the stop-gap replacement in Stuart Binny in the playing XI for the second Test.

“These are the guys who are going to play Test cricket for a long time. And guys can be shuffled up and down the order according to what the game demands,” Kohli told BCCI.tv in an interview after the 278-run win in Colombo. “It’s not certain that a certain someone would bat at a certain position. You might see people floating around according to situations in the game. But, I believe all these guys, 7-8 of us, are the ones who are going to play for a long time and they are getting confident.”

It is perfectly understandable that Kohli is still learning the ropes of Test match captaincy. For someone who was always seen as the eventual replacement for MS Dhoni in all formats, Kohli does not exactly have rich experience captaining in the longer formats – in Ranji or Duleep trophies, say. This series has given the platform to test out various theories and ideas and to be fair, most of it has come off.

But the chopping and changing of the batting line-up is something Kohli would do well to curb in the long run. It is great that Kohli can call on the services of consummate team players like Rahane and Pujara, who are ready to bat anywhere, but beyond a point – uncertainty of where they will play in the next match, breeds doubt in players’ minds.

“Our main aim is to win a Test match and for that if someone has to chip in for one game and then miss out for the next, it is understandable. If Pujara is asked to open in the next game because the team demands him to do so, he is pretty happy to do it. That kind of belief or trust we need to have as teammates. Shuffling, chipping and changing, cutting and changing, I don’t really mind doing that. Eventually what you want to do is win a Test match. That should be your ultimate aim,” said Kohli.

Yes, the eventual aim should be to win Test matches – but that won’t be happenstance. Good Test teams are built on stability and consistency. His hand will be forced at times due to injury – like how Pujara will most likely get to play as an opener in the next match, with Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan missing out. But change for change’s sake won’t do his team any favours. Players might say things like “ready to bat anywhere, ready to fill any role” on the outside, but every Test batsman worth his salt would like to have the reassurance of knowing what is role in the line up is.

“Ajinkya can bat at three, five or six. We know that Rohit can bat at three and five. Both can bat well with the tail. We have the kind of versatility in our batting order that everyone is ready to bat at any position, and that sort of mind-set is important to win Test matches,” said Kohli.

That sort of mind-set will work in one-off situations but in the long term, Kohli would do well to stick to a line-up and back his players at that position.

We can argue all we want about whether Rahane should continue at No. 3 or go back to the position where he’s been consistent, or whether Rohit Sharma should make for Pujara in the playing XI but chopping and changing based on a match, or just one series will not do the bastmen or the team any favours in the long term.