Five Players Who Can Lose Their Spot In The Team If Virat Kohli Resigns As Captain

Every captain has some favourite sets of players which he likes to have by his side at any time. Well, India skipper Virat Kohli is not an exception either. The 29-year old definitely prefers some specific players when he takes the field. The captain is given the credit whenever his trusted players win the game for the side.

However, the critics don’t take long to come out and take a shot at skipper when the players fail. So here we take a look at some players who are captain Kohli’s favourite and can lose their spot in the team if the skipper resigns from his post.

Shikhar Dhawan:

Shikhar Dhawan is having a two faced international career. One is when he plays in India and the subcontinent where he scores tons of runs in all formats and the other is playing abroad in Tests where he fails miserably. Dhawan is one of the regular openers since Kohli took the charge of Team India from MS Dhoni and has rarely been dropped from the ODI and T20 side.

But his tests form is a point of concern as he struggles badly whenever he tours for England, Australia and South Africa. Dhawan averages just above 20 in England, 21 in Australia and 18 in South Africa in 7 tests. So far, he has played a total of 10 tests in these three countries and has just a single 50+ score. With an overall average of 42, if his scores against Bangladesh, Afghanistan and a mediocre Sri Lanka are removed, his average falls to 30.76. Dhawan also has a problem of spilling catches in the slips cordon.

KL Rahul:

Lokesh Rahul, a former teammate of Virat Kohli in RCB, is a fine talent and could be the next big thing in Indian Cricket. But he has not justified his talent and chances so far. Rahul made his maiden Test century in his very first series in Australia when he cracked a Ton against the Aussies Down-under in 2014. Since then he got the nod by the selectors every now and then but has struggled for consistency.

He had a good outing in the mammoth 2016-17 home season. The right-hander had scored six consecutive fifties against Australia and had played a knock of 199 against England. However, just like most of his teammates, he too has struggled while playing in tough conditions.

An average of 32 in Australia, just 8.75 in England, 7.50 in South Africa and 33 in Sri Lanka tells the story. He needs to make his chances count immediately or otherwise should get ready to face the axe.

Ishant Sharma:

Already out of the shorter formats, Ishant Sharma, Kohli’s state teammate, is a regular face in the Test team. However, he gets a chance to play in the playing eleven only when one of the top three pacers miss out due to an injury or poor form. As a result, he is not a regular in the playing eleven despite being the most experienced pacer in the squad.

His strike rate of 65 in tests is the second worst among pacers who took over 240 wickets. Ishant averages over 60 in Australia, 38 in England and 40 in South Africa where pitches are bowler-friendly. At the time being, he does not look good to be the pace spearhead of the team. Moreover, the emergence of other bowlers has made things tough for him.

Hardik Pandya:

One of the regular faces in Indian Team in all the three formats of game under Virat Kohli is Hardik Pandya. Pandya has created much hype since his debut but has not made a mark so far.

Pandya plays as an all-rounder in the team which has worked in his favour due to the dearth of pace-bowling allrounders in the country. He had a dream start to his career in both Tests and ODIs when he won the Man of the match in his debut ODI and scored a ton in his 3rd test.

But since then Pandya has a rough patch. He has struggled to score consistently and looks ineffective with the ball more often than not. Pandya  averages 29 in ODIs , 32 in Tests and a unmentionable 16.93 in the T20Is – a format which is considered his forte.

Coming to his bowling, he has a bowling average of over 40 in both Tests and ODIs. The average shoots up to 77 in England and 54 in South Africa.

MS Dhoni:

MS Dhoni is probably the greatest Wicketkeeper batsman to play the game. He has been a stalwart for over a decade for India and one of the greatest finishers in the 50 over format. But all is not forever. MS Dhoni has grown old and lost most of his batting abilities as it seems so. There is no question about his fitness, running between the wickets and wicket keeper abilities but Dhoni just lost his touch in the batting department.

He sparkled in the last IPL for Chennai Super Kings and everyone thought that the sleeping Lion is back to his best but the recent England tour put questions on his abilities and his place in the team for the World Cup team for 2019. He has not done well for quite some time now. In 2016, he had an ODI average of just 27.

His average rose to 60.61 in 2017 but it was mostly due his one big innings of 134 vs England.  This year he averages just 37 which is way below his standard. Not only his batting average, his strike rate also seen a drop since 2015- 86, 80, 84, 70 (this year).

Although Virat Kohli prefers only Dhoni as the only wicketkeeper batsman of the team in shorter formats as he gets the experience of Dhoni’s leadership from behind the stumps. With Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant scoring tons of runs in
the domestic matches, Dhoni has to find his golden touch one last time before calling day after the World Cup.