On 24 January 2018, India went in to play on a difficult pitch in Johannesburg.
They were already 2-0 down in the series. South Africa picked an all-out pace attack to rub the Indian team into the dirt. However, the Indian team came out the winners.
On 27 February 2020, India faced a similar situation in Christchurch against New Zealand, on a green pitch, against an all-pace attack threatening to clean-sweep the team in this Test series.
At the end of Day 2, India are just 97 runs ahead in the third innings with only four wickets in hand. India will most likely lose this Test match.
What is the difference between the first instance in South Africa and the second instance in Christchurch? Why did the team win the Jo’burg Test and look highly unlikely to win the Christchurch Test?
It is the lack of self-belief in the team, and more importantly, the lack of self-belief of the team’s talisman, Virat Kohli. The team might have its Bumrahs or Shamis, but during challenging circumstances, this team looks up to its leader to stand in front and stand defiant.
Virat was in excellent form during the South Africa series. He led the team from the front. He spoke defiantly in the press conference. He pumped his team up to face the challenge, made runs in both the innings and carried his team through that Test.
However, in Christchurch, Kohli looked like a man lost in a thick rainforest. His ferocious demeanour, which stood out in Jo’burg, is missing in this series. He gave excuses in the press conferences rather than taking on the press with his usual defiant, combative style.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Apart from Virat, the only other leader in this team is Rohit Sharma. Unfortunately, his injury at the end of the T20 series and his absence after that coincided with the downfall of this team in this tour.
Rohit’s excellent batting form had been a big reason for India’s success in 2019. He was in superb form during the T20 series in NZ as well.
Other than Virat and Rohit, this Indian team lacks strong characters who can rally the team. The earlier generation had strong personalities, who led the team on different occasions. Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan were strong characters, who commanded respect within the group.
Even though Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have been with the team for long periods now, they unfortunately have not blossomed into leaders within the team. Therefore, when the captain is in trouble, there is no one to shepherd the ship to safety.
When it comes to the bowling unit, again, there seems to be a lack of a natural leader. In the earlier generation, Zaheer took up the bowling leadership role during a match and guided the other bowlers. In this current unit, when they struggled in the ODI series and the first Test in Wellington, it did not look like they had a go-to person on the ground to come up with some new tricks.
Why is it that experienced players in the team are not transitioning to becoming leaders? Why it is that no one can stand up and lead the team when Virat is not at his best?
Over the years, the Indian team’s body language has been a precise predictor of its performance in the matches. When it had strong characters in its midst, they have found ways to come back and win.
However, when they looked meek, the result has often been a foregone conclusion. Even after restricting the Kiwis to a score below their first innings, the Indian batsmen did not come out to bat like those who were in the driver’s seat.
The Kiwis dominated them from the first over and are on the verge of another win in the World Test Championship.
Watching the game, even I did not believe that this team will bat the Kiwis out in the second innings.
La grandeur d'Athéna
Roar Rookie
It survived when those video games were not even born. Most likely to survive when those video games will not be here.
Save_the_Earth
Roar Rookie
May be we have to see how long test cricket will survive without those video games
E-Meter
Roar Rookie
Kohli will come out to Australia next summer and score 400 Test runs on our beautiful batting strips.
Bobbo7
Guest
It seamed all Test match. Conditions largely stayed the same. And lets not forget India had the lead on day 2
Save_the_Earth
Roar Rookie
Toss and conditions are playing massive role in test matches. may be we have to question the value of test cricket in the coming days
Gee
Roar Rookie
Kohli has a history of having embarrassing test series, this one is far from the worst. Well done to NZ, they knew India are hopeless against the moving ball so picked the four pacemen and got the result.
Bobbo7
Guest
Maybe just a team of flat track bullies. They looked very average with the ball moving and had no real fight. It all looked a bit too hard. That said. With NZ in Australi aa and he this series... hard to win away from home
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Virat Kholi may be short on confidence... Maybe... Open to debate.. But he is absolutely not short of self belief. A related article here on The Roar suggests he has an ego problem??? Who doesn't one way or another... What I do know though is despite the conflicting opinions on him, he doesn't just make money out of cricket... He practically prints it.... Yes he is under pressure from a demanding billion people to perform but that has been the case for years now. Virat Kholi is an astonishingly talented player and you know what? They always find a way through.
Republican
Guest
Cricket definitely affords a home side a huge advantage especially Test Cricket. India will slide down the world rankings after this series to be sure.
Howd all that work out for yuh? India were indeed thrashed by the Kiwis - again.
Sathish T
Guest
He is telling himself to be aggressive..but when he was batting , his doubts were all there to see..
Targa
Roar Rookie
Kohli's been short of runs but has been extremely aggressive and combative. Did you not see the aggressive send off he gave to Williamson in the 1st innings, his over the top celebration when he caught Nicholls, his mimicking of drinking to abuse the crowd, and then shouting out "Shut the eff up" to the crowd? He's been far too aggressive and should be sanctioned for his poor behaviour.
La grandeur d'Athéna
Roar Rookie
Finished watching the match. This was embarrassing with 4 g in the end. I am afraid our captain is acting like a immature brat with those animated celebrations of him while scoring nothing. I told that this series is going to be barometer of where we are before the main event in this November. Gosh I am not looking forward to this. Aussie captain attitude's looks like he is saying it is his turn to return all the favours. I have never been a fan of virat's so called leadership. Because I do not think he ever had that. Great batsmen do not always make good captain. To prithvi, welcome to real world of test cricket kid , after those IPL video games.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
This article gives a completely different explanation for Kohli’s form than the other one today by “RowiE” which argues that the problem is overconfidence and a tendency to chase cover drives. I haven’t seen his dismissals in NZ but I’d have to say anyone can get out to low scores on pitches that are doing a bit, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Kohli was being a bit too aggressive on pitches where there isn’t much margin for error. I suspect that this rather than any deeper explanations about age or leadership are at the bottom. Interesting in that one of Kohli’s great batting feats was mastering the English bowling attack on helpful English pitches a couple of years ago. But it’s a fine line.
Paul
Roar Guru
exactly right about Dhoni's body of work Bob. I get the impression Kohli really looked up to Dhoni, which makes sense as a young guy coming into the team. He now doesn't have him close by and the others, while top ranked in our eyes, maybe aren't a great leadership fit in his eyes.
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
Good point re Dhoni. He was a zen like character and probably the perfect counterpoint to Kohli's fire and brimstone approach. No doubt there are still calm and considered personalities in the Indian team (Pujarra perhaps?) but they are probably drowned out by Kohli. Dhoni had that immense body of work behind him which gave him huge credibility and allowed him to be influential even in Kholi's presence.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
It’s certainly not over, but you’d have to back NZ as massive favourites at this stage. NZ getting through those 15 overs unscathed with 46 on the board really puts them very much on top. India will really need to strike quickly after lunch to have any chance.
badmanners
Roar Rookie
Kyle Jamieson scoring 49 batting at 9 in the first dig was vital in the context of this match.
jose
Roar Rookie
now it is almost over, 88 runs to get with 10 wickets in the shed
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
Yep - it can work really well in the short term, but it's rarely a good idea for long-term succession planning.