Three Instances When India Lost a Test Due to Virat Kohli's Strange Team Selection

Virat Kohli never played with the same team in last 37 matches; isn’t that a mind-boggling statistics? Though the winning percentage is quite high, those changes in the playing XI have dented India during crucial games particularly at theTest setup. The strange team selection at times befuddled many cricketing pundits.

Meanwhile, we had figured out three matches when India lost the game because of the bizarre team selection under the captaincy of Kohli.

Here are those three instance regarding the strange team selection from Virat Kohli:

3. Picked Jayant Yadav ahead of Karun Nair facing Australia at Pune (2017):

It was the series opener between India and Australia at a brand-new stadium, MCA. With Australians heading to India 20 days ahead to the game, the talk on the series reached sky-high.

As usual, the brain games in the media statements by either team players also reached to the top point.

Meanwhile, when the day arrived, Kohli gave a big shock by playing three spinners on a track where Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are more than enough.

With the turning track on offer, Virat Kohli opted for Jayant Yadav despite, Karun Nair scoring a triple-century in the previous game. It was a shocker which eventually, dented India’s chances.

Nair, who was an obvious choice to bat at No. 6 saw Jayant, who floundered poorly. The magical century by Steven Smith and the heroics by their spinners thumped India to seal the Pune Test.

The presence of Jayant Yadav gave only a couple of wickets for India. On the other hand, Ashwin and Jadeja wrecked havoc. India were bundled out for a mere 105 and 107 in both innings respectively.

2. Opted Rohit Sharma ahead of Ajinkya Rahane at Capetown (2018):

It was after a long time, India travelling overseas for the Test series. The star-studded Indians took the flight owing to the confidence. Just when everything looked set, the strange decision by Kohli once again put India in a soup.

The best Indian overseas player and also the vice-captain, Ajinkya Rahane was benched to play Rohit Sharma in the side whose record in South Africa is miserable. The surprising decision was a shock to Indian fans as well.

Eventually, the move to play Rohit turned out to be a strange one. He never really looked comfortable against the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander.

Rohit ended up registering 21 runs to his name in both innings combined. Eventually, India lost the game by 72 runs. India missed their prime weapon in South African conditions.

Surprisingly, Kohli and management once again gave a green signal to Rohit Sharma in the second Test which also resulted in the same.

In the final Test, Rahane got the chance who played a pivotal knock of 48 runs to help India win the game.

The strange team selection from Virat Kohli in the Test fold had hit Team India badly.

1. Played with Shikhar Dhawan ahead of Cheteshwar Pujara at Edgbaston (2018):

The leading run-scorer for India in Tests for the last season and then the player who opted to play in county cricket especially, for the England series, Cheteshwar Pujara was dropped in the first Test at Edgbaston in India’s tour to England 2018.

How surprising is that move from Virat Kohli and Co? Shikhar Dhawan, who struggled in his favourite limited-over series against the same opposition got the nod ahead of the most trusted batsman, Pujara.

Of late, Pujara has been the most successful Indian batsman as far as Test cricket is concerned. But, his exclusion has been the massive surprise with Dhawan replacing him.

Earlier, the southpaw Dhawan registered a king pair (duck in both innings) in practice game as well.

The management opted to go with the trio Murali Vijay, Dhawan and KL Rahul leaving Pujara out. The move backfired severely as none of them crossed 50-run mark. Leave about scoring, none of them looked comfortable in dealing swing as well.

It was the Test which India lost the game by mere 31 runs while chasing 194 on the board. Despite having a long batting line-up, India failed to hunt it down courtesy Ben Stokes’ stupendous spell on a penultimate day at Edgbaston.