Virat Kohli's questionably partisan selection policies

[Proactive_]

Since Virat Kohli's rise to the top job in Indian Cricket in 2015, it must be said that he has, on multiple occasions displayed a pretty curious brand of selection preferences in his teams.

On the test match side, Kohli for some reason showed unreasonable faith in Rohit Sharma at the cost of a much more accomplished batsman in Cheteshwar Pujara, who despite his less than favourable form, was a miles better alternative to Rohit Sharma. Kohli tried to such an extent that he even put a pushed a settled Ajinkya Rahane at No.5 to No.3 so that he could accommodate Rohit Sharma. It was an innings of a lifetime by Pujara coming into open due to an injury (a match he was originally scheduled to be carrying drinks) in the deciding match of the India-SL 2015 Test series that saved his career and his incredible performances since then have only strengthened his status as one of the premiere Indian Test batsman.

On to the ODI side, Kohli for some incredible reason decided to keep a fit and ready to go Mohammad Shami out of the team for the entirety of the Champions Trophy. Even in an important game like the final he preferred to play serial overseas failures like Ashwin over the best ODI bowler that India has to offer. Hell, even in this recently concluded ODI series against the WI, he decided to bench Shami until the 4th ODI, coming into which Shami immediately proves his class in a matter of 2 matches converting a what seemed to be 250+ total to a barely 200 total in a good spell of middle overs bowling in the 5th deciding ODI.

So the question needs to be asked, does someone as openly partisan and emotionally fragile as Kohli deserve to play an integral role in the Final 11 selection policies in the team? Or going one step further, seeing his questionable tactics in that regard and seeing his recent flare up with a highly respected and accomplished figure like Kumble and for the sake of preventing further groupism and politics in the team, does he even deserve to stay the captain? I personally don't think so. I think India deserves a much better and composed captain TBH who can differentiate performances from personal preferences.

 

[ExpressPacer]

In my opinion, Kohli is by far the most complete ODI batsmen to have played in the last two decades or so, however, that being said, there is no reason evident that he should've been made captain. Kohli is an extremely strong figure in the dressing room and therefore wants a yes man coach too.

The fact that Dhoni was forced to step down from captaincy in itself is atrocious, however, not choosing Rohit as captain after that was an even bigger crime. Kohli isn't a good captain. He may be a passionate leader and what not, but he's not the best captain. He's too emotional to be captain.

 

[Proactive_]

In my opinion, Kohli is by far the most complete ODI batsmen to have played in the last two decades or so, however, that being said, there is no reason evident that he should've been made captain. Kohli is an extremely strong figure in the dressing room and therefore wants a yes man coach too.

The fact that Dhoni was forced to step down from captaincy in itself is atrocious, however, not choosing Rohit as captain after that was an even bigger crime. Kohli isn't a good captain. He may be a passionate leader and what not, but he's not the best captain. He's too emotional to be captain.

It goes way beyond just his captaincy on the field. The guy's setting a dangerous precedent that being in the Captain's good books is a necessity to be in the team irrespective of your performances on the field. If he keeps sidelining players due to his personal likes and dislikes then it's well and truly the start of a long period of dark days for Indian cricket.

 

[CricketAnalyst]

It goes way beyond just his captaincy on the field. The guy's setting a dangerous precedent that being in the Captain's good books is a necessity to be in the team irrespective of your performances on the field. If he keeps sidelining players due to his personal likes and dislikes then it's well and truly the start of a long period of dark days for Indian cricket.

There's no evidence that he actually did this.

This whole media crusade against Kohli is sickening.

 

[Commander]

In my opinion, Kohli is by far the most complete ODI batsmen to have played in the last two decades or so, however, that being said, there is no reason evident that he should've been made captain. Kohli is an extremely strong figure in the dressing room and therefore wants a yes man coach too.

The fact that Dhoni was forced to step down from captaincy in itself is atrocious, however, not choosing Rohit as captain after that was an even bigger crime. Kohli isn't a good captain. He may be a passionate leader and what not, but he's not the best captain. He's too emotional to be captain.

I agree with most points but look at Imran Khan. He was also a very strong figure in the dressing room as well as in front of selectors and the management. Look what he did for Pakistan.

 

[Proactive_]

There's no evidence that he actually did this.

This whole media crusade against Kohli is sickening.

It's absolutely clear as day, especially in Pujara's case, I can't believe how Kohli's not been called out on this issue yet. The guy even tinkered with the batting position of the best Test batsman in the team at that time (Ajinkya Rahane) to try to accommodate a serial failure like Rohit who in no facet of Test Cricket matches to Pujara in any way despite Pujara's loss of form at that time. That's absolutely sickening levels of partiality on display tbh.

 

[Proactive_]

I agree with most points but look at Imran Khan. He was also a very strong figure in the dressing room as well as in front of selectors and the management. Look what he did for Pakistan.

Being strong is useless when you don't have the judgement skills and acumen to back it up. Kohli doesn't have it as evidenced by his atrocious team selections on various occasions including the CT Final. I don't think he commands even 1/100th of the respect that Dhoni did during his tenure but are happy to just stay mum to prevent entering his bad books and eventually get unceremoniously dropped. An emotional fragile being like Kohli as the captain can end up being the worst thing to happen to Indian cricket since the Chappell-Ganguly fiasco.

 

[90MPH]

Most captains have their favourites and buddies whom they prefer to be in the side.

That's why you need a good strong team manager or coach to reign a captain in and remind him it's about having the strongest side and not who you like or don't like.

Huge blunder to get rid of Kumble.

I think there are def some flaws with Kohli as captain starting to emerge. He's a very good batsman but doesn't always make the right selections on or off the field.

 

[pillionrider]

Kohli is loyal. Once he takes a liking to someone's game, it requires a huge amount of failure or bad attitude for him to change his mind.

Loyalty can be mistaken for bias. Loyalty and Bias might eventually end up having the same results, but I think loyalty is an admirable trait.

 

[sshakir411]

My Indian friends have mentioned how Kohli does like to play his boys.

 

[troodon]

Kohli should shun Rohit in Tests. Sharma will never be a Test calibre batsman.

Kohli has a strong liking to Rohit's game. He also backs Umesh Yadav and likes him a lot. Hence he prefers Yadav over Shami.

Kohli does come across a bit biased in his team selections. Playing an over the hill Yuvraj over a ready to go talent like Pant is pathetic.

 

[ExpressPacer]

I agree with most points but look at Imran Khan. He was also a very strong figure in the dressing room as well as in front of selectors and the management. Look what he did for Pakistan.

Agreed but then again, Imran Khan was a once in a generation cricketer and quite possibly the greatest captain of all time. He transformed a bunch of average blokes in a minnow team into world beaters.

 

[JaDed]

There's no evidence that he actually did this.

This whole media crusade against Kohli is sickening.

He deserves every bit coming to him,he basked the success when he wasn't the captain and performing,he wanted to be part of the big stage ,he deserves to get every bit of flak coming his way.

His selection has been pretty awful.

 

[shravan]

Rohit is biased in favour of every who has signed up with Bunty Sajdeh. Terrible time for Indian cricket up ahead.

 

[Asim_khan]

I hope it's because of a liking for positive aggressive cricket that Yadav/Rohit bring rather than a preference for those signed with Bunty.

 

[leatherface58]

Kohli should shun Rohit in Tests. Sharma will never be a Test calibre batsman.

Kohli has a strong liking to Rohit's game. He also backs Umesh Yadav and likes him a lot. Hence he prefers Yadav over Shami.

Kohli does come across a bit biased in his team selections. Playing an over the hill Yuvraj over a ready to go talent like Pant is pathetic.

Weirdly enough, he dropped Yadav in place of Ashwin who had done nothing in the tournament. Yadav had done well in CT13 final too so he is known to deliver in big games.

 

[Chrish]

He is not good for the team as a captain.. but given his personality he can't be anything other than a captain as he comes out as someone who would have trouble taking order from someone else.

When Aussies start telling you need to tone down a bit, you know things are wrong

 

[RamLakhan]

I always cautioned about this long back. Kohli can never be a successful captain! The danger is it can affect his batting (it has in some cases!) If Kohli is one of the good things happened to Indian team (his gorgeous batting), then all the more reason to protect it by carefully removing him from captaincy soon! He may get depressed for some months, but he will get back to his original (batting responsibly for the team... He definitely is not a selfish player going behind records... Even Sachin was not like that and was actually mistaken by people... Sachin played in an useless team for most part... Thankfully Kohli is playing in a good team... He can always bat to make his team win!) I am sure Kohli will enjoy his cricket and play responsibly for the team (with his "batting" alone) and will be satisfied about it and won't be disappointed about losing captaincy (There are some big names already like "Sachin", "Lara", etc... failures as captains! So no issues, that won't judge them as players!)

And for God's sake don't compare him with Imran! Imran, Ponting, etc are in different regions... Kohli can be better than Imran as a batsman, better than Ponting as an ODI chaser (can feel satisfied with this... But don't compete with them for captaincy! Put your hands up and tell that you are no where near them in terms of captaincy skills! He has a chance to become better overall "player" than those two at the end of his career, let him aim at that)

And I am sure BCCI will not have such intelligence like us to analyse players and team! Even if they do so, they will be ridden by politics and favoritism (Thinking blindly that Kohli captaining Indian team will sell better to crowd and masses! The daily/momentarily economics! Even if Indian team losses, there will talk about Kohli and questions asked at him, and this sells well in the business!) That's what even media wants! So its finally only the fans (true fans) who will be concerned about this! So let's hope that (unfortunately) Indian team loses badly continuously for some period, and Kohli is removed from captaincy based on laws of losses! But then that can affect the team as well, and the team's balance, essence will also be lost! So we are in a dilemma!

Kohli may not intentionally favor certain players! It looks like he does them based on instincts! If he is bothered about himself he should actually get rid of players like Rohit (who made debut ahead of him), Ashwin (senior to him), Yuvaraj, Dhoni, etc. He actually praises them like anything and is harming the youngsters/newcomers who cannot do any harm but actually can be good followers to him! (Is he bothered about his future competitors? We don't know!) This is exactly opposite to Dhoni's case! Dhoni got rid of seniors and favored some strange players! But actually it did well for the team somehow! His success rate was better than even Ganguly who actually took Indian team from dark spot and put on positive path... So we should be happy about the end results always and should not complain it... Similarly we have no option but to keep quite if there are positive results somehow and if Kohli becomes successful in spite of all these! After all they (Kohli & co) are playing cricket and we are just watching it! So we don't exactly know what's going on behind...

 

[Proactive_]

There we have another folks. Ajinkya Rahane of all people being dropped in an overseas test at No.5 in favor of Rohit Sharma of all people. It's Pujara all over again, the only difference being that Rahane is being dropped for not filling his boots against SL at home. Absolutely atrocious.

 

[Varun]

Rahane dropped for Rohit Sharma.

Hardik Pandya and Dhawan picked.

Now I want to get whitewashed 3-0.

 

[CanadianG00se]

There we have another folks. Ajinkya Rahane of all people being dropped in an overseas test at No.5 in favor of Rohit Sharma of all people. It's Pujara all over again, the only difference being that Rahane is being dropped for not filling his boots against SL at home. Absolutely atrocious.

Generally i always disagree with you, however you’re not wrong here. Now that seeing not one but 3 possible major errors in team selection ( Rohit for Rahane, Dhawan for Rahul, and Bumrah for Ishant), I kind to think that Kohli-Shashtri indeed having some favouritism going on. If this was ODI team then it would’ve made perfect sense, however for test match that to on a greenish pitch against potentially world’s best bowling quatret, its gonna be massacre like goat waiting to be slaughter.

Well like most Indian fans, I had predicted 3-0, Kohli is only ensuring that prediction becomes reality.

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

Er no Pujara and Rahane fans can blame anybody else. If I am not wrong Pujara failed for 10 straight test before he was dropped and similarly Rahane has been failing apart from one or two good inning in last 4 series.
I want Rahane over Rohit but Rahane is himself to blame.
Regarding Pandya, it is between 3 2 combination or 3 1 1 combination. India need extra bowler they can't go with four bowlers anymore with so much of cricket they are playing. They also can't play 4 fast seamers with Saha as a keeper which will make tail start from 6.
Apart from Dhawan over Rahul it is balance Squad , whether we win or loose .

 

[jagatk]

There's no evidence that he actually did this.

This whole media crusade against Kohli is sickening.

In pujara's case it was clear bias on part of Kohli and shastri, pujara was getting starts just couldn't convert but was dropped on flimsy ground of not scoring quickly same with Vijay. I remember that idiot gavaskar trying to get pujara dropped for Rohit because apparently scoring a certain century and carrying the bat is not as good as scoring a 70 odd.

 

[dravidthewall]

Shuld be sack from capatancy

 

[CricketCartoons]

Pujara has been given enough chances, time to move on and invest in someone else. Also good thing to drop Rahane who takes his spot for granted without producing any runs.

 

[jagatk]

Er no Pujara and Rahane fans can blame anybody else. If I am not wrong Pujara failed for 10 straight test before he was dropped and similarly Rahane has been failing apart from one or two good inning in last 4 series.
I want Rahane over Rohit but Rahane is himself to blame.
Regarding Pandya, it is between 3 2 combination or 3 1 1 combination. India need extra bowler they can't go with four bowlers anymore with so much of cricket they are playing. They also can't play 4 fast seamers with Saha as a keeper which will make tail start from 6.
Apart from Dhawan over Rahul it is balance Squad , whether we win or loose .

Pujara did not fail, he just wasn't converting starts. You want fails how about 1, 8, 25, 0, 39, 28, 0,7, 6 and 20 in 5 matches at an average of 13, funny Kohli did not drop himself after England or 0, 13, 12, 15 and 6 against Australia did not see Kohli dropped for those either.

 

[Zahid87]

For what its worth...Rohit Sharma's wife, Ritika Sajdeh, is the sister of Virat Kohli's agent, Bunty Sajdeh.

 

[Arham_PakFan]

There we have another folks. Ajinkya Rahane of all people being dropped in an overseas test at No.5 in favor of Rohit Sharma of all people. It's Pujara all over again, the only difference being that Rahane is being dropped for not filling his boots against SL at home. Absolutely atrocious.

Disgusting.Rahane is 2 classes above Rohit as a test batsman.

 

[jagatk]

There we have another folks. Ajinkya Rahane of all people being dropped in an overseas test at No.5 in favor of Rohit Sharma of all people. It's Pujara all over again, the only difference being that Rahane is being dropped for not filling his boots against SL at home. Absolutely atrocious.

Tbf mate rahane has been poor for a long time now, his odd century here and there kept him in the team in India but he was Kohli in England level atrocious against SL and poor before that too.

 

[samplepiece]

Glad that both Rohit and Rahane are from Mumbai. Otherwise the Mumbai lobby accusations would have choked the forum by now.

Given the history, would have liked seeing Rahane over Rohit atleast for the first test. But cant argue with Kohile over the recent form.

Everytime in the past when Ishant has played, Kohli has been a butt of joke for his love of Sharmas lol.

 

[subbu]

ok Rahane is out of form ( Rahane always struggled against spin at home even before this bad patch .But gun player out side subcontinent)

Rahul non selection is ridiculous ( before this test match he had world record of 7 consecutive half centuries in test cricket... proven player in all conditions)

during a preview show ...Grame smith has picked KL Rahul and kohli as dangerous players from India ..he also said if they want left hand combination of Dhawan in the team. Rahul should play in the middle order ..according to smith.. Rahul is one of the the best young talent in the world cricket)


on a positve side i like Bumrah's selection and five bowling options

 

[austerlitz]

Rahul dropped again for dhawan.
Not sure about bumrah.

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

Pujara did not fail, he just wasn't converting starts. You want fails how about 1, 8, 25, 0, 39, 28, 0,7, 6 and 20 in 5 matches at an average of 13, funny Kohli did not drop himself after England or 0, 13, 12, 15 and 6 against Australia did not see Kohli dropped for those either.

The thing is he made century before his failure and again rare twin century in Australia.
10 test is huge sample..
32,1,23,19,17,38,55,43,24,2,0,17,4,11,73,21,18,43,25,21. Now as a Pujara fan you can say that he made two half century but do you blame captain for dropping him.
I have seen many players failing 3 or 5 test period but 10test 20 inning is large sample. Worst part you know what was that Dhawan made two hundred during same period but he was also dropped and no Dhawan fan complained . I like Pujura and Rahane over Rohit but they both are themselves to blame.

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

As I told you Pandya is necessary evil , Burma is alright, the issue is Rahul was dropped for Dhwan.
This team is ok and balanced. without Dhawan whether we win or not

 

[jnaveen1980]

Pujara has been given enough chances, time to move on and invest in someone else. Also good thing to drop Rahane who takes his spot for granted without producing any runs.

Pujara is playing. Pujara had more runs than Smith in 2017 until last test of smith.

 

[subbu]

ok Agree with the form over class

but why same in-form rule is not applicable for Rahul??

Between i dont agree with thread starters regular meaningless kohli and team India bashing but here Kohli is very poor/biased in team selection and not for the first time

 

[jnaveen1980]

As I told you Pandya is necessary evil , Burma is alright, the issue is Rahul was dropped for Dhwan.
This team is ok and balanced. without Dhawan whether we win or not

That selection may come back to hurt none other than Kohli himself.

 

[jnaveen1980]

ok Agree with the form over class

but why same in-form rule is not applicable for Rahul??

Between i dont agree with thread starters regular meaningless kohli and team India bashing but here Kohli is very poor/biased in team selection and not for the first time

Yup Rahul in ICC top 10 rankings.

 

[Proactive_]

Pretty sure Rahane wouldn't have been dropping sitters in the slips as well. Easily the best slips fielder India has.

 

[jagatk]

The thing is he made century before his failure and again rare twin century in Australia.
10 test is huge sample..
32,1,23,19,17,38,55,43,24,2,0,17,4,11,73,21,18,43,25,21. Now as a Pujara fan you can say that he made two half century but do you blame captain for dropping him.
I have seen many players failing 3 or 5 test period but 10test 20 inning is large sample. Worst part you know what was that Dhawan made two hundred during same period but he was also dropped and no Dhawan fan complained . I like Pujura and Rahane over Rohit but they both are themselves to blame.

If the guy replacing pujara was not a ftb I wouldn't have minded but as the stats themselves show pujara's issue were converting starts unlike Kohli in England or rahane right now who looked out of sorts and needed to be benched for his sake as well as team's if a player who is an important part of the team goes through a lean spell you need to back him not drop him at the first chance.

 

[Ab Fan]

Selection is poor. This may haunt India even after good bowling performance from them.

 

[Hasan123]

Not surprised to see Rahane dropped. Don't agree with it but it didn't shock me.

 

[MMHS]

I am sure it’s not Kohli only.