Virat Kohli’s brilliance as a batsman means that his choices as captain are not probed by the Indian cricket media with the same exacting scrutiny that the English cricket writers do about Joe Root’s choices.
No one asks why Kohli took Ashwin — who was bowling his one brilliant spell in the series — off at Edgbaston when Sam Curran was taking the game away from India.
No one asks why the captain didn’t guide Ashwin to create the same magic that another off-spinner produced not once but twice in the Southampton Test.
Unless he returns to being the Wizard of Chennai in spin-friendly conditions at the Oval, one must wonder if Ashwin’s Test career has come to an end.
While it’s true that faulty selection of playing XI, bad luck with the toss does (and has) play a part, the key issue — on evidence of performances this year — is failure to capitalise on winning situations, individually and collectively.
Why are players losing their nerve at crunch moments ?
In a relatively small run chase at Edgbaston, Dhawan, Vijay, Rahane and Karthik faltered badly. At Southampton, Ashwin just couldn’t get the line and hit the spot that earned Moeen Ali a bagful of wickets.
Is this lack of calibre or a kink? Clearly players who lack skills or are pusillanimous need to be replaced. Yet, India wouldn’t get into winning positions so frequently if the talent was poor. The second attribute is the more likely, and needs to be addressed urgently.
