At the start of the Indian Premier League season, if someone had said Virat Kohli’s team would finish last, most Indian cricket fans would have looked at the person with a mild derision if not outright contempt.
At the end of the league stage, Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore have finished at the bottom of the heap with just seven points from 14 games. That they finished the campaign with a win, is only an oddity to what has been a dismal season by a team that finished runners-up last season.
While injuries had plagued the side in the lead-up to the season, no one could have foreseen such a debacle, especially considering the stars in their squad.
For Kohli, the campaign followed what was one the most successful home seasons in India’s cricket history. He had led India to four back-to-back Test series wins, including a 2-1 win over arch-rivals Australia. Kohli was equally ruthless with the bat. In 16 Tests, he scored 1,503 runs at an average of 65.34. In the 13 limited overs games played in this period, he scored 612 runs.
As leader of India’s winning-streak, Kohli was hailed as one of the best captains in the modern game. A shellacking in the IPL was hardly on anyone’s radar. While the make-up of the side had hinted at an average outcome, not many would have thought at the end of the season, the team would register just three wins. Kohli came into the tournament nursing a shoulder injury picked up during the intense series against Australia. He missed three games, adding pressure on a squad which was already depleted by other casualties.
His return came with a hope of revival and a chance for the fans to witness another whirlwind IPL show from the maverick batsmen. He ended the campaign on Sunday, having scored 308 runs from 14 games including four half centuries.
It was a far cry from the 973 runs he had amassed in the last edition, when he smashed four centuries and seven fifties in an incredible season that saw him average at 81.08.
The IPL campaign has been a blemish on an otherwise faultless year for the India skipper. Unprecedented even, considering that Kohli has never really faced such a heavy defeat since attaining leadership roles for both club and country.
Fatigue factor?
At 13, India hosted the most Tests in one home season since 1979-’80. Playing against formidable opponents such as England and Australia was hardly an easy task. Kohli led from the front in all the series. His animated captaincy on the field or the astute batting, that he was engaging all his faculties to achieve victory was quite evident.
His sheer presence in the field was palpable and he soaked in the attention both from the fans and even from his opponents, who targeted him as the man who held the team together. The victories are testament to his tactful captaincy and aggressive brand of cricket.
Giving a 100% day in and day out, even for an ultra-fit Kohli, was never going to be an easy task, and it became quite evident as he failed to make his bat do the talking in the three Tests he played against Australia. He managed to score just 46 runs in the five innings he played. A shoulder injury ahead of the fourth and decisive Test only made it clear that the long and strenuous season had its effect on the 28-year-old.
He carried the soreness into the IPL, where his performances left a lot to be desired. He has set high standards and his fans and teammates always expect him to turn in a fine performance each time he takes the field. While he did show a few glimpses of his class this season, the sporadic nature of the knocks did not quite help the team, which was struggling to stand up against other star studded teams in the IPL.
Kohli’s knocks including his 58 on Sunday, have not been measured. Yes, there have been spells, where he has stamped his class with an audacious shot or two, but overall, he has resisted from going overboard. He failed to convert his half centuries into big scores. While they were valuable, the situation his team was in demanded big runs from Kohli and the other members of RCB’s big three – Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers.
Break ahead of Champions Trophy
Kohli has led from the front for over a year. Till now, his performances were proving that he could neatly balance the vagaries of captaincy and still keep the runs flowing off the bat.
The past few months have revealed a Kohli who is against all assumptions a human and does need to reflect and refresh once in a while. The shoulder injury during the Australia series showed that Kohli, like any other player, needs rest, especially considering the vital role he plays in the team set-up across all formats, both as a batsman as well as a leader.
His captaincy during the IPL suffered, the RCB management tried a multiple changes during the course of the disastrous season. Nearly everything failed, Kohli himself admitted every move they tried in bid to arrest the slide would fail to meet expectations.
As a captain, Kohli has never failed in such a scenario. Prior to this edition of the IPL, he had always managed to find the winning formula.
Ahead of the Champions Trophy, it is imperative for him to take a step back and recharge his batteries. India will head into a one-day tournament after a lengthy spell focused on the longest format of the game. With India meeting Pakistan first up, the team will need their skipper and star batsman to hit the ground running.
As the top four teams tussle to find a winner among themselves in the coming week, Kohli will finally get a chance to take a break away from the cricket field. One would hope it helps him come back stronger.
He will join an Indian side whose core has remained the same over the past one year, and their strengths and weaknesses all but clear to him. The physical and mental toll of captaining a high-profile side like India, as well as being its premier batsman, is a burden only a few players have borne during their international careers.
It will be interesting to see how he responds to the IPL setback. Will he lose his edge or come back stronger with a will to win. We will find out soon enough.