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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Recent roller-coaster tour of South Africa has showcased both the best and the worst side of Indian team. G Krishnan divides the performance of Kohli & Co into three categories:

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Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane
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THE GOOD

'RUN MACHINE' VIRAT KOHLI:

Every time Virat Kohli walks out in the middle, he is expected to score hundreds. Kohli went to South Africa at the back of successive Test double hundreds against Sri Lanka at home. When he took first strike in South Africa, he poked Morne Morkel outside the off stump to present wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock a catch. Perhaps the demons of fishing outside the off-stump that was a common feature on the 2014 tour of England was beginning to haunt him. But, a great learner and improviser that Kohli is, scored a masterly 153 in the second Test to show he is the world's premier batsman. He carried on his form into the ODIs to amass a record 500-plus runs in the bilateral ODI series with three centuries. A tour aggregate of 871 runs in 14 innings across formats at 79.18 is testimony to his growing popularity and leading by example.

BOWLERS ON TARGET:

It is not often that a team bowls out the opposition in every innings of a Test series. The Indian pacers accomplished this rare feat in the three-Test series, giving captain Kohli the belief that they can do it in England and Australia later this year. To win a Test match, you need to take 20 wickets. Yet, India came second best to South Africa in two Tests, courtesy batting failures apart from Kohli. Mohammed Shami continued to spearhead the Indian bowling attack with aplomb while Jasprit Bumrah was the find of the tour, proving his mettle with the red ball and impressing straightaway in his debut series. While the orthodox right-arm spinner Ravichandran Ashwin could do precious little on the South African pitches, it was the wrist spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal that mesmerised the Proteas in the ODIs, sharing 33 wickets between them.

THE BAD

PERSISTING WITH HARDIK PANDYA:

When Hardik Pandya made his Test debut last year after proving himself in the limited-overs, India were quite happy that the search for a genuine all-rounder has ended for the time being. While Pandya's attitude towards the game may have impressed one and all including the captain Kohli and chief coach Ravi Shastri, he has not delivered according to expectations. A strokeful 93 in the first Test apart, Pandya collected a mere 26 from the other five Test innings, a paltry 26 in 4 ODI innings and 34 runs in T20Is. With the ball, he has returned from South Africa with only 10 wickets in 12 international appearances over all three formats. Persisting with Pandya even when he was not delivering when a few others were dropped on form showed inconsistency in the selection. Pandya's shot selections prompted the legendary Kapil Dev to quip that he does not want to be mentioned in the same line as Pandya if he continued to make "silly mistakes".

LACK OF PRACTICE

However much one practices in the nets, nothing can replicate match situations. However much you create match conditions and roll the practice pitches to your liking, nothing can make up for proper match out in the middle. India made a mistake of not reaching South Africa early and opted for practice sessions, even cancelling a scheduled two-day warm-up game. It takes times to get acclimatised to the foreign conditions even if you have visited those shores previously. It is no pointing blaming the scheduling. A majority of the Test players who were not involved in the home T20 series against Sri Lanka ought to have been sent there early. Chief coach Ravi Shastri backtracked on his own words when he said that India ought to have played some warm-up matches before the Tests. Hopefully, the BCCI would have learnt from this mistake and plan better for future tours.

THE UGLY

SIDELINING AJINKYA, BHUVNESHWAR:

It is unimaginable that the Test vice-captain is not an automatic choice in the playing 11. More so if he has been one of the better batsmen outside the sub-continent in the last couple of years. Ajinkya Rahane, who only last year led India to a Test victory against Australia in the absence of an injured Kohli in Dharamsala, was surprisingly dropped for the first two Tests that India lost in South Africa. And, when he was brought back at the expense of the non-performing Rohit Sharma, Rahane proved his worth with a second-innings top-score of 48 in trying circumstances. It was a similar fate that swing bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar faced, having been dropped after a sensational Test in Cape Town only to be brought back for the third Test. Kohli takes the Test selection to the extremes that no two 11s in his 35 Tests at the helm have been identical!

ROHIT SHARMA GETS UMPTEEN CHANCES:

Rohit Sharma was brought into the Test 11 late last year against Sri Lanka at home and justified his recall at No. 6 with a century and two fifties. But, a rare failure against Sri Lanka by Ajinkya Rahane went against him in South Africa and Sharma was preferred. This was a mistake that India made and perhaps cost India the Test series as Sharma, at No. 5, could not cope up with the South African pacers with hit technique. A knock of 47 in the second innings in Centurion came after everything was lost. Sharma, whenever he plays and gives his team good starts, may appear indispensable in limited-overs. But the key question is how often does he get going? Take away his brilliant 115 in the Port Elizabeth ODI, his aggregate in the limited-overs leg of the tour reads a paltry sum of 87 from eight innings. Anyone who gets umpteen chances like Sharma gets is bound to score one or two big scores. And what is worse is many youngsters are warming the bench as Sharma swims tethered to the long rope.

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