38 Changes In 38 Tests Too much, But Fine If Results Are Coming, Says Harbhajan Singh

Veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh believes there is nothing wrong with Team India’s policy of constantly chopping and changing its playing eleven as long as results are coming. He also praised skipper Virat Kohli for leading the team from the very front.

India’s transition from MS Dhoni-era to Virat Kohli-era has been a smooth one. In fact, it has exceeded all the expectations. Kohli began his captaincy career by leading the team to a historic series win in Sri Lanka in 2015. After that, India defeated South Africa, New Zealand, England, Bangladesh, West Indies, Australia and Sri Lanka to rise to the top of Test rankings. The team completely blew away oppositions at home.

Earlier this year, Kohli & Co. won a Test in South Africa too although they lost the series 2-1. The Kohli-led side recently thrashed England at Trent Bridge by 203 runs in the ongoing series. And one of the constant feature of the Kohli-era has been the captain’s decision to play with a different playing in every game.

India played their 38th combination in as many Test matches under Kohli at the Trent Bridge Test. The move has not attracted much criticism because of the good results. However, it did when India lost at Lord’s after dropping Umesh Yadav for Kuldeep Yadav on a pacer-friendly wicket.

And Harbhajan Singh is of the opinion that while the constant tinkering with the playing eleven is just too much but feels that it is fine as long as it is yielding results.

“Personally I think 38 changes in 38 Tests is too much. But every captain is different, and every team’s dynamics are different. Maybe they want horses for courses, and it works for them,” Harbhajan told PTI.

“They were close to winning the series in South Africa. They have turned things here in England. If the captain believes in it, the management agrees and players accept it, then what you and I think doesn’t matter,” he added.

Harbhajan further lauded Kohli for his captaincy and batting. The India skipper has led from the very front in England.

He started off with a classy 149 and a gutsy 51 in the first Test at Edgbaston. He fell cheaply in both the innings at Lord’s but bounced back in style at Trent Bridge. In the first innings, he scored 97 in tough conditions. He looked set for a hundred but was caught by Ben Stokes at slip off the bowling of Adil Rashid while going for an expensive cover drive.

However, he made amends for it in the very next innings by slamming his 23rd Test ton. The 29-year old scored 103 in the second, helping India post 352 for 7 and win the game.

Prior to leaving for England, Kohli had practised with Raghu (member of the Indian support staff) in Mumbai, taking throw-downs on wet surfaces in a bid to replicate these English conditions.

Complementing Kohli’s batting and captaincy, Harbhajan said:

“When you do that, take throw downs from 18 yards or so with a wet, new ball, you get used to pace and movement.

“Then, batting at 22 yards, it doesn’t affect you. Kohli is not swayed by pace or movement, he bats out of the crease, he covers the stumps, plays close to the body and plays late, so he has worked hard at getting better in English conditions.”

“His head too is very disciplined in terms of leaving and playing because here leaving is more important. If you leave the ball well in England, then you will score a lot of runs, but for that you need to be at the wicket and that happens only if you leave a lot of balls.

“He is a brilliant batsman. I haven’t seen many batsmen come to South Africa, Australia and England, and make conditions look so easy to bat on. He bats on a different wicket than other batsmen,” he added.