India England Test: Pujara, Kohli still on the learning curve

Mumbai: There are various causes and reasons for India’s sudden slump in the Test series against England. I wrote last week about one of these: the excessive focus by the team management on the Jadeja-Anderson fracas which betrayed mixed up priorities and sapped the players of psychological energy.

Only after ICC Judicial Commissioner Gordon Lewis summarily dismissed the case last week has the Indian management diluted their protest somewhat. The BCCI now says it will pursue the matter with the ICC later. Perhaps this decision should have been taken earlier, before the damage was done.

Purely from a cricketing point of view, however, the poor form of the batting has been the most disappointing. Carp as much as you want about M S Dhoni’s team selections and decisions on the field but there’s not much any captain can do if his batsmen give him barely 150 to defend.

Of the batsmen, the failure of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli has been most concerning. These two were regarded not just as pillars of the Indian bating, but were expected to make the big jump into becoming the leading batsmen of this generation. Now, suddenly, question marks have arisen about their ability.

Pujara started the series with strong intent and spent quality time in the middle too in the first two Tests, but has floundered since then. Kohli, more amazingly, has simply not taken off, barely aggregating 100 runs in seven innings. So what’s happened?

Clearly, they have been found wanting. In Kohli’s case, it is largely to do with inability to make technical adjustments, in Pujara’s case on the other hand it’s the propensity to get bogged down. In the case of both, as the runs started drying up and the pressure mounted, the problems have grown to be of both technique and temperament. The manner of Kohli’s dismissals, in 90 per cent of the case he has been caught behind or in the slip cordon suggests he is unsure of where his off-stump is and has frequently kept the face of the bat open rather than behind the line of the ball.

Pujara has looked far more compact technically, but as one-drop he is also entrusted with the task of taking charge of the innings. He has struggled in this, getting bogged down for long periods. With failures mounting, he has tried to be a little more adventurous, but has ended up making the wrong choice of stroke.

It has not helped their cause at all that India’s opening pair has struggled to see off the new ball. Either Pujara or Kohli or both have had to bat with the innings barely a few overs old. This makes the task of middle-order batsmen more difficult, especially in conditions that help seam and swing bowlers.

It would be a travesty if one were not to credit the England bowlers, particularly Anderson and Stuart Broad, in reducing India’s two batsmen into nervous wrecks. They’ve done their homework well and bowled with great skill and control, allowing neither Pujara nor Kohli any respite or escape.

That said, to be overly critical of these two batsmen is to ignore their youth, the fact that they are on their first tour of England where conditions usually help bowlers and technical adjustments become imperative.

Passionate about cricket, we dive readily into brouhaha about our heroes. What this series has shown is that Pujara and Kohli are still on the learning curve and have some way to go before becoming world-beaters. Perhaps this tour will give them the experience to live up to that promise. They may have been brought down a peg or two, but this can actually help them.