The Kohli-Tendulkar Debate: Why India does not need another Sachin Tendulkar

Rightfully favourites

India are rightly the pre-tournament favourites. They have the benefit of playing on pitches tailored to suit their game plan in front of partisan crowds. Furthermore, at least on paper, they have a team that is capable of going the distance. In Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah they have an incisive new ball pair while Bumrah’s death bowling has also been exceptional.

R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are proven commodities in subcontinental conditions and have both pitches that suit their bowling and a Captain who knows how to get the best out of them. Bizarrely, it is India’s batting that has let them down in high pressure situations.

It must be noted that in the aforementioned games against New Zealand and Pakistan, the batsmen have not had to score at even 7 runs per over. Granted, the conditions were tricky; but they were also subcontinental conditions that the team is used to. India’s batting needs to stand up and be counted when it matters.

Time to take a stand

It is not for the lack of skill; they would not have gotten this far in their international careers if they were not skilful. Virat Kohli may yet carry India to the final off his own bat; but it must be remembered that despite his sublime knock in the 2014 World T20 final, India fell short due to the lack of any other meaningful contributions.

Greatness might on many occasions drag mediocrity across the finish line with it, but mediocrity can often weigh down greatness.

Indian Cricket has endured heartbreak numerous times in the past despite Sachin Tendulkar’s best efforts. Most famously, he scored 673 runs in the 2003 World Cup, it was the single greatest World Cup batting performance; and it has never been topped. But he fell early in the final and India lost.

Indian Cricket is seemingly ready to embrace Virat Kohli as Sachin Tendulkar’s heir; but that does not mean that every single part of his legacy must be handed down. Most pertinently, Kohli, Tendulkar and Indian Cricket will fervently hope that Virat Kohli is not saddled with the pressure and responsibility of carrying a team like Tendulkar was in the 1990s.

The Tendulkar of the 1990s may have been a better batsman, but the Tendulkar of the 2000s won more games. And that was because India was no longer a one batsman team.

India do not need Virat Kohli to be Sachin Tendulkar. However, they do not need Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma to be Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly. India need to start playing as a team. They need their batting to take collective responsibility. And they need to start doing it now.