Bangla series: Virat Kohli looks to reinvent himself as he returns to Tests

It’s going to be after 18 long months that Virat Kohli will play a Test series in India – the first one of which against Bangladesh starts in Chennai on 19 September. There is an extra buzz around the India camp with his arrival from London early on Friday - as the master batter was conspicuous by his absence in the five-Test series against England few months back due to family obligations.

There are 10 Test matches lined up for India till the New Year – two against Bangladesh followed by three versus the Kiwis at home and then, of course, a full five-Test series against Australia Down Under. A great worshipper of the longer format of the game, Kohli will be in a better frame of mind to set the benchmark higher for himself there – now that he is officially absolved of the T20 responsibilities at the national level.   

It’s the beginning of a new season for the likes of him, captain Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah or Rishabh Pant who are coming out of an unusually long break after the T20 World Cup triumph. Both Kohli and Rohit had made themselves available for three ODIs in Sri Lanka, but that was more to honour the request of new chief coach Gautam Gambhir to be available in his first tour in charge.

There is, meanwhile, a small numbers game that he can keep an eye on – that of the number of centuries against his name and other members of the Big Four who used to frequently stir up the ‘best Test batter’ debate till a few years back. Joe Root is now at the top of the heap with 33 centuries, followed by Kane Williamson and Steve Smith (both 32) and Kohli (29).

After establishing himself as arguably the most inspirational cricketer of this generation, Kohli has reached a stage where he surely does not set any goals for a new season anymore. However, as Driven a performer that he is  (with due apologies to the title of his biography by Vijay Lokpally), he will reboot himself to ensure that he carries on from where he left off last season. Topping the agenda will, no prizes for guessing,  be to have a fruitful series against Pat Cummins’ men at their backyard.

There is, meanwhile, a small numbers game that he can keep an eye on – that of the number of centuries against his name and other members of the Big Four who used to frequently stir up the ‘best Test batter’ debate till a few years back. Joe Root is now at the top of the heap with 33 centuries, followed by Kane Williamson and Steve Smith (both 32) and Kohli (29).

Is there some catching up to do there for Kohli? Any member of the media courageous enough to pop the question to him sometime during the season is likely to draw a derisive smile from him – for his common refrain had long been that records are the farthest in his mind when at the crease.

Managing expectations

It would be perhaps more apt to say that Kohli would like to have his favourite phrase: ‘process’ in place for the runs to follow – and this effectively means he needs to spend long periods at the crease, irrespective of the opposition. The last time he played a Test match was against South Africa nine months back at the beginning of the year and hence, the master has to relook at his shot selection even against the likes of a nippy youngster Navid Rana or Taskin Ahmed to cut down on those expansive cover drives early on.

The challenge for Kohli, notwithstanding the prolonged lean patch during the Covid years, and always that of meeting the skyhigh expectations in all three formats of the game for years. Unlike Root and Smith, whose primary concern was to provide solidity to their middle order in Tests, Kohli had to play the accumulator, attacker and chaser by turns – with often little blemishes creeping into his game as well as patience levels.

No disrespect meant to the batting coaches who adorned the dugouts over the past few years, but he had to find his own solutions in most cases. Now a father of two and fractionally more mellower soul who seems to be enjoying the game more than ever, one can count on him to give it his all in Tests from here onwards.   

India squad for the 1st Test: Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal.