Out of Dhoni’s Shadows, Virat’s Intent Has Driven Team to Number 1

Tracing the rise of India to the number 1 spot in Test rankings, under Virat Kohli.

Virat Kohli and the Indian squad with the test Mace during day 4 of the third test match between India and New Zealand. (Photo: BCCI)

A little over five years ago when Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit a massive six to net India the World Cup, the team was at an all-time high. Not many now remember that then India held not just the World Cup, but also the Mace by virtue of being the number one Test team in the world.

But a combination of poor captaincy, aging seniors and a woeful bowling attack resulted in India almost effortlessly handing the Mace to England in only the second series after the World Cup win.

Dhoni’s six effectively hit India’s Test fortunes out of the ground.

MS Dhoni hits the winning shot at the 2011 World Cup final. (Photo: Reuters)

For a nation fed on triumphs in colour, the dull whites bore no joy in the reign of Dhoni. That attitude also reflected in the way he led the Test squad full of legends. India lost eight successive Tests away from home (in England and Australia) as the narrative around the side moved back to the 1990s.

It also stemmed from the fact that Dhoni himself made veiled comments about how the 2007 World Cup loss was more hurtful than the Test whitewashes. The legends too were on their last legs leaving Dhoni with a myriad of problems.

Letting Go Of The Legends

Slowly the seniors started getting dropped or retired on their own to leave Dhoni as the only man standing tall amidst the ruins of 2011-12. But there was still a question mark about his intent and interest in the longest format of the sport. In between all these moments of despair emerged Virat Kohli who made a century in a losing cause in Australia. He may have growled and abused his way to the hundred, but he showed the requisite intent.

The Test fortunes only got worse as India lost at home to England for the first time in 28 years in 2012-13. It was at this time that patience finally ran out for the selectors, Dhoni and the then head coach Duncan Fletcher.  The remaining set of seniors including Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh started getting left out.

The result was a 4-0 whitewash of Australia at home.

By the time Sachin Tendulkar retired at the fag end of 2013, the Test squad was unrecognisable from the one that toured England in 2011. That squad in 2011 was lackadaisical, cared very little for the format and some were even happy to land in the Old Blighty in an unfit state. The carefully built rise to the number one status was destroyed in England in 2011.

But when the next set of foreign tours began in 2013-14, there was a sense of hope. India fought the champion South Africa on even terms on their home turf, though they lost a series they could have leveled. Similarly in New Zealand in 2014, the young Indian side gave a very good account of themselves only to be thwarted by the talismanic home captain Brendon McCullum. It was in England later that the old failings re-appeared as Dhoni once again revealed his disinterest.

The Dawn of the Kohli Era

By the time India toured Australia, it was clear that there was need for a new leader for the longer format. Kohli’s first Test in charge at Adelaide showed an intent that had been lacking before. It was therefore long before that Dhoni realised his position and made way for a ‘performing’ captain in Kohli.

Since Kohli’s ascent to the top, there is a definite shift in the way the format is viewed because right from the top there are noises about the importance of the format. If you do not respect this game, it will come back to bite you as Dhoni found out in his time as Test captain.

In the last one year, India has remained fairly consistent in the Test match format beating hosts Sri Lanka and West Indies, apart from cleaning up South Africa at home.  Now, it was New Zealand’s turn to be spun out by Ravichandran Ashwin.

Kohli’s Test squad has a clear stamp of the captain with players hungry to do well in the Test match format in the reckoning. There is clarity of thought in how the players are being chosen with the Test specialists or the performers being preserved for the longer version.

So you have reserves like Shardul Thakur and Jayant Yadav being picked in the squad, because they have been earmarked. On the other hand, the team think-tank was also prepared to recall Gautam Gambhir, the only surviving member of the 2009-2011 squad when India held the mace, just because it suited the team’s needs. There is skill in the form of Mohammed Shami and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, apart from the speed of Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron, as also the bounce from Ishant Sharma.

An understudy for Wriddhiman Saha, a perennial threat for Rohit Sharma and a performing seam-bowling all-rounder are the other requirements for the Test squad.

But overall the Test squad is in a far better shape than when Dhoni hit India’s Test fortunes out of the Wankhede Stadium in 2011.