5 surprising captaincy decisions by Virat Kohli in 2018

Virat Kohli has already become one of the most successful captains in the history of Indian cricket. He took up the responsibility when the former Indian skipper MS Dhoni retired from Test cricket in 2014.

Kohli began his captaincy with a 2-1 series win in Sri Lanka in 2015 and registered 3-0 series win against South Africa in the same year.

Under his captaincy, the Indian team went on to win the Test series against New Zealand, England, Bangladesh and Australia at home. And in 2018 Kohli became the first Asian captain to win a Test in South Africa, England and Australia in the same calendar year. However, the Indian team lost the Test series in South Africa and England.

While the Delhi-born batsman is doing a fantastic job as captain, he has also made some decisions which have not paid off. In our article, let us take a look at the five surprising decisions from Virat Kohli this year.

#1 Dropping Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the Centurion Test

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is one of the few bowlers who can move the ball both ways. Kohli included Bhuvneshwar for the first Test against South Africa where the pitches are friendly to the fast bowlers.

The right-arm pacer didn't fail to impress as he troubled South Africa's top-order, scalping 4 and 2 wickets in the first and second innings respectively. He also contributed with the bat, scoring 25 and 13 in the first and second innings respectively.

The all-round effort from Bhuvneshwar Kumar went in vain as the hosts went on to win the game by 75 runs to take the lead in the series.

Despite his heroics in the first game, he was dropped by the Indian skipper for the second Test. India ended up losing that match too, and with it the series.

#2 Dropping Ajinkya Rahane for the first two Tests against South Africa

Ajinkya Rahane is one of the most consistent cricketers in the longest format of the game, especially in overseas conditions. However, he was dropped by the Indian skipper Kohli for the first two Tests against South Africa in early 2018.

The Indian team included Rohit Sharma to replace Rahane in the playing XI. However, the decision backfired as Rohit could only score 11 and 10 in the first and second innings of the first Test.

Kohli committed the same mistake in the second Test and India lost the game as the hosts went on to seal the series. Rahane was included in the XI for the third and final game and he scored 48 on a tough pitch to take his team home.

#3 Dropping Cheteshwar Pujara for the first Test in England

Cheteshwar Pujara is undoubtedly one of the most consistent performers in red ball cricket. He has been an important member of the Indian team in the longest format, and can single-handedly change the course of the game.

However, the Saurashtra batsman was overlooked by his skipper and dropped for the first Test against England at Edgbaston. The Indian team tried KL Rahul as their new number three batsman. But the move did not bring the desired result as the Karnataka batsman flopped with the bat in both the innings.

The Indian team management soon realized the mistake and included Pujara for the following game. He then went on to score 278 runs in the remaining 4 Tests at an average of about 40.

Pujara has already played a couple of brilliant knocks in the ongoing Test series against Australia.

#4 Picking Kuldeep Yadav for the Lord's Test

Prior to the start of the game, reports suggested that the pitch would favor the fast bowlers. But the Indian team management failed to read the pitch correctly and went with two front-line spinners.

The Indian skipper Kohli included both Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI but the move did not work as both the spinners failed to take a wicket in the game. The left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep bowled 9 overs and conceded runs at an economy of about five.

England's leading pace bowler James Anderson scalped 9 wickets in the game and the hosts won the 2nd Test at Lord's by an innings and 159 runs. Kuldeep was then dropped from the team.

#5 Not picking any spinner for the Perth Test

It was on 14 December 2018 when the Indian skipper Kohli made another surprising decision as captain. The Indian team management once again failed to read the pitch and Kohli went on to play the 2nd Test at Perth with four pacers and no leading spinner, presumably after looking at the green track.

The Indian pacers especially Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami did a brilliant job. But the efforts from the Indian pacers went in vain as they lacked a quality spinner.

Nathan Lyon, the Australian spinner, extracted a lot of bounce to bag 5 wickets in the first innings and 4 wickets in the second. And Hanuma Vihari, who was the only spinner in the Indian line-up, troubled the opponents to pick two wickets in the first innings.

The result could well have been different had India played a front-line spinner at Perth.