Have Kohli and Shastri pressed the panic button?

Even before the Indian team left for the Sri Lanka tour, there was hype over Virat Kohli’s captaincy. This being his first full Test tour as captain, fans were excited as to how the new leader would handle the side.

Had it been a tough opposition, there would have been reason to worry. But barring Kumar Sangakkara, this Sri Lankan side does not exactly fit into the world-class category, though credit must be given to them for winning the first Test in Galle.

It has been an interesting battle in the second Test till now.

But if one looks at some of the decisions taken by the team management, or to be more precise, Kohli and team director Ravi Shastri, one would agree they have pressed the panic button after one loss.

Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out of the series with an injury. But the most baffling decision was to send Stuart Binny as reinforcement and the 16th player in the squad. It is well known that Indian cricket has been starved of a quality all-rounder, especially in Test cricket.

There are bits-and-pieces cricketers who can be termed "all-rounders" for one day internationals (ODIs), but to bracket Binny as a Test all-rounder is laughable. He did pick his first wicket on Saturday, but Kohli and Shastri need to answer why he got a chance to play while Bhuvneshwar Kumar is in Sri Lanka as a tourist.

If one is going to talk of Bhuvi the bowler, he is far superior to Binny. And as someone who has scored two half-centuries in England in Test cricket, he obviously is no bunny with the bat. Somehow, all these credentials seem to have been forgotten and flying out Binny demonstrates that the panic button has been hit.

At this stage, one would be tempted to say India has the advantage. For a side which has had leaders talking about playing aggressive cricket, there seems to be something wrong with its mindset.

This team is not like the old Australia which would make its intent clear on wanting to play hard cricket and was ready to sledge on the field if that gave an advantage. If one wants to play with aggression and prove a point, he has to do it on the field rather than make statements about it.

Let’s come to how Kohli and Shastri have handled the number three batting slot: a place which calls for a batsman who has technique and grit. Rohit Sharma flopped in Galle; so this time Ajinkya Rahane was made the sacrificial lamb. The net effect: Rahane flopped in the first innings and Rohit scored runs lower down the order so that nobody can say he is no good again. Indeed, a defeat in the first Test rankled the Indians so much the think tank pressed for certain crazy changes like dropping speedster Varun Aaron and bringing in Umesh Yadav and leaving out seasoned pro Harbhajan Singh.

The provocation for dropping Aaron after just one Test is not clear, but if the captain and the man officiating as coach are talking of giving confidence to players, their decisions are baffling. Fast bowlers have to be treated with care and this play-and-dump policy only reflects panic.

This is in sharp comparison to the previous regime when skipper MS Dhoni believed in giving a new player at least ten Tests so that he could settle down. On Friday, leggie Amit Mishra may have wondered when he was going to get a chance to bowl. He got to bowl his first over just before tea (21st over of the innings) and was again out in the cold till the 38th over. After that, once he picked up a wicket, Mishra got to bowl longish spells during which he picked up four wickets.

People who have seen Kohli as captain from close quarters say he believes bowlers must be rotated. If that is true, the skipper would do well to understand spinners like long spells so they can find rhythm and attack when they have found their line and length. Poor Mishra, he must have been a tormented soul on the field.

Irrespective of the outcome of this Test, people are going to watch Kohli’s captaincy and Shastri’s inputs closely. With BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur reiterating Team India will find a new coach before the home series against South Africa, there are interesting days in store.