Skipper Kohli Cocktail: Where change is the only 'Constant'
18 Jan 2018 4:45 PM GMT
New Delhi: Virat Kohli wasn't exactly amused when a South African scribe asked him about his choice of 34 different playing XIs in his three years as Test captain but a statistical lowdown clearly points at distinct lack of consistency in team selection.
Whether it is by choice or compulsion of injuries, Kohli's fetish for tinkering with playing XI is well documented — something that wasn't questioned till the South African debacle happened.
The scissor happy Kohli has changed at least one player in seven Tests, two players in 16 Tests, three players in six Tests, four players in four Tests and five players in a single Test (his debut Test as captain in Adelaide, Australia in 2014).
At the onset it is fair to mention that Kohli never had a settled opening pair with either of the three Murali Vijay, KL Rahul or Shikhar Dhawan being injured or out of form.
In Kohli's regime, Vijay palyed 25 Tests, Rahul 20 and Dhawan 17.
India used seven openers in this period — Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rahul, Dhawan, Parthiv Patel, Gautam Gambhir and Abhinav Mukund.
However during these three years only six players have received India Test caps.
They are Karn Sharma, Naman Ojha, Jayant Yadav, Karun Nair, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah.
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