India tour of Australia 4th Test: Tracking transition

He had been the life of the practice session already till then. When not imitating his fast bowlers, he was taking jibes at Murali Vijay as he faced up to the pacers in the nets. At other times, he stood fooling around with the stretchable exercise pole, playfully whacking his teammates with it or even indulging in a little jig with it. Kohli was taking charge though not in very conventional fashion. This was his first practice session since taking over in entirety as Test captain, and Kohli was making his presence felt.

He had earlier addressed the team huddle and even received a well-rounded applause from the rest of his colleagues.

It’s always seemed like a natural progression this one; Kohli taking over from Dhoni. The ascension to the throne might have come a tad earlier than expected. But you can imagine the crown fit nicely on Kohli even if he might still look like a boy emperor. For, even as the crown prince, he never shied away from taking on the big and the nasty. He was the one who wanted to lead from the front. The successor who’s always looked primed for the role. It was just a matter of time.

In many ways, Indian cricket couldn’t have asked for a better time for the transition to happen, even if it’s still reeling from the suddenness of Dhoni’s departure. Kohli is in the form of his life. He’s a solitary run away from becoming the first visiting No.4 batsman to score 500 runs in a series in Australia. He’s already scored more hundreds on one tour Down Under than any other Indian batsman in history.

And it’s also been a tour where he’s proved once and for all that Test cricket is ultimate to him. He’s not done so through words but by putting on batting monologues of the highest quality in alien conditions.

As far as the series is concerned, the SCG Test might be the final one out of four. But for India, this is a new beginning, to the extent that the outcomes in the three games coming into Sydney are redundant. They don’t matter anymore. India has moved on, quite literally.

Most teams approach a new era with trepidation. But somehow with Kohli at the helm, you can’t help but feel his enthusiasm, his verve and actually believe that the future is bright, or at least that Indian cricket is headed in the right direction.

This is the real new beginning for Indian cricket. In many ways, Dhoni was the last link between the noughties and the nineties. The last vestiges of the Tendulkar era. With Dhoni now gone, Kohli heralds a new chapter.

Here is the best batsman in the team taking over the reins and not looking even a tad out of place while doing so. He also has a team at his disposal that has in the last three weeks displayed more positives than any in recent memory. Kohli can bank on an opener, who’s withstood the Aussie onslaught like he was Hercules, a No.5 who’s taken on Mitchell Johnson and given him a proverbial spanking, and team that has been obstinate on not giving away even a quarter.

Kohli also replaces a captain, who at times seemed not in sync with Test cricket, often even indifferent towards it. He let things drift. Already in his one outing in Adelaide, Kohli has shown that he doesn’t believe in being inert. He prefers keeping his foot on the pedal even if at times it means putting all his eggs in a basket and then trusting his team to see his plans through.

Unresolved issues 

It won’t be smooth-sailing for sure. There are issues that need sorting out. Cheteshwar Pujara landed in Australia as India’s anchor, but he’s hardly held the innings together in the three Tests. The bowling still needs sorting out. The Indian fast bowlers have had their moments but have failed to stop the Aussies from piling on 500+ scores in all three Tests. The SCG has tempted many an opposition team to go in with two spinners.

But if Kohli were to go that way, his option is a young left-arm spinner who’s more of a T20 find with no known credentials in the longer format. Having raved on about having fast bowlers with the ability to test the speed-gun, Kohli will be tempted to play Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav together again.

There were enough signs in the practice session that pointed at a return to Test action for Suresh Raina, which could make Kohli’s job a tad easier as he would then have a reliable second spin-option. The last time he played a Test at the SCG, he had ended up sullying his already bad-boy reputation by flashing a finger towards the crowds. In the last three weeks, Kohli has ensured that the only reputation he now has is to do with his unremitting batting ability. We all know what kind of a captain Kohli will be. We saw a glimpse of it in Adelaide. But his next step will be to channel the energies that make him such a destructive force with a bat towards raking in success for his young team. Only then can the ultimate verdict be reached.

But the SCG Test in many ways could point at what direction this young team is headed in Test cricket. For now though, it’s time to hail the new leader as a wind of change sweeps through Indian cricket.