While their pace attack has come as a breath of fresh air, decisions that the Indian team management has made have often fallen on the wrong side of the road.
If India, the No.1 Test side in the world, have found themselves 1-1 against a depleted Australian team after two Tests, and their much-desired away series win looking anything but confirmed, it’s because they have been their own nemeses as much as the tough conditions they have encountered in Tests this year.
A timeline can be traced: dropping Ajinkya Rahane, the vice-captain, no less, from the first two Tests in South Africa; dropping Cheteshwar Pujara from the first Test in England; playing two spinners on a nasty, seaming track in the next Test at Lord’s; playing a less-than-fit Ravichandran Ashwin in Southampton; playing no spinners in Perth where Nathan Lyon finished with eight wickets in the match.
Sunil Gavaskar has not been impressed by some of the decisions made by Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri this year.
India have lost seven of their 10 away Tests so far in 2018.https://t.co/6iEF4sA140
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) December 19, 2018
And while captain Virat Kohli and the team management have given their reasons for all these decisions and stuck to them, it has seemed on many occasions that they cannot but help themselves in making decisions that have cost them crucial moments.
For the most part, however, it looks like a case of a batsman’s over-reliance on his muscle memory, which he knows can both fetch him runs and get him dismissed if he relies solely on it. It becomes hard to resist the way you’ve played all your life and the way you think has worked for you.
India think their decisions have worked for them, but the results state otherwise.
