Virat Kohli pivotal to World Cup plans

Failure to win the last match should not obscure the fact that India’s performance in the ODI series was top class: there was verve, skill and a sense of purpose that is of greater significance than just the 3-1 verdict.For one, this helped redeem some lost prestige after the debacle in the Test series. The team had looked shattered and demoralized after the drubbing. There were few who would have believed that India could recover so swiftly or so well.

Much to everybody’s surprise, the turnaround happened. Even more importantly, the manner and margin of victories put India’s preparations for the World Cup, which looked disarrayed after the Tests, back on track.Barring the continued poor form of Virat Kohli, the core group ticked off for next year’s mega tournament all showed terrific form. Even Rohit Sharma, who was unfortunately injured and had to fly back, had a half century in the only match he played.

Kohli became something of an enigma on this tour. For somebody so obviously talented — and with impressive performances on other overseas tours — his inability to come to terms with English conditions was baffling.So while his nightmare may have ended, but I suspect there are sleepless nights ahead for Kohli when he tries to assess what went wrong.

This is where his mental strength and capacity to imbibe hard lessons (call it humility) will come into play.

For all that, Kohli still remains pivotal in India’s plans for the World Cup. My surmise is that he is a proud and ambitious young man who will be eager to regain his position as India’s best batsman - and perhaps will be better after the England experience.

There are no compunctions, however, about other key players going ahead: Raina, Jadeja, Dhawan, Rohit, Rahane, Bhuvaneshwar, Shami, Mohit and Ashwin —who I believe are integral to the game-plan to defend the World Cup have all looked the part.

I had argued after India were in a no-lose position during the ODI series that bench players like Sanju Samson, Dhaval Kulkarni and Umesh Yadav should be tried out for the team management to keep options alive.

I was particularly keen to see young Samson in action after his successful tour of Australia with the ‘A’ team, but in hindsight I think it was prudent not to have dropped Dhawan though he was struggling for form.

Finally Dhawan found form, which in the context of the World Cup was so important for M S Dhoni.In the shorter format, the captain too was a man transformed. He was fulcrum as well as master strategist and was a study in contrast to the beleaguered leader seen in the Tests.

Theories abound about why Dhoni, who often looks hapless in the five day format looks so resourceful and in control in ODIs. It’s to do with mental bandwidth argue some. Because he plays all formats as wicket-keeper batsman and captain, there is only so much he can handle. Some say his interest in Test cricket is meagre; that he is easily bored in the longer format and prefers the ‘instant’ challenge of limited overs cricket. Some others say that there is not much he can do if his players let him down in Tests.

There is truth-value in all these theories, but I can’t believe Dhoni would want to captain in Tests without being interested in winning. If anything, adverse results erode his brand equity as a captain.I believe the issue may be larger and wider and not located only in Dhoni. It has to do with the vision of the cricket establishment. In that sense, the topsy-turvy results of the Tests and ODIs on the current tour are instructive. England’s performance suggests greater emphasis on Tests rather than ODIs, India’s the other way around.