How Virat Kohli instilled a winning culture in the Indian Test Team

Gone are those days when India relied heavily on the spinners to annihilate the opposition's batting attack. The pace bowlers have proved to be a potent tool in Team India's arsenal of late. Bangladesh's tour of India in late 2019 stood witness to this statement. India's landmark pink-ball Test against Bangladesh observed a series of occurrences never seen before. The Indian pacers accounted for all the wickets (19) for the first time in a home Test fixture. The sequence of events is representative of a new India. However, the journey to the top wasn't easy. 

In 2015, Virat Kohli assumed the full-time captaincy duties at a time when India were languishing at the bottom of ICC Test rankings. The pressing need for India was to find a pace bowling quartet capable of tormenting any batting line-up at varying conditions. He had that hunger for winning a Test match not just at home, but in testing conditions such as Australia, England and South Africa. 

In an interview with ESPN Cricinfo in 2015, the newly-appointed captain expressed his ambition to see India dominate the Test arena for at least the next five years. 

“I strongly want to see the Indian team dominate for at least five or six years. We certainly have the talent. We certainly have the ability. All that it will take is how you manage that and keep them together,” Virat Kohli had then said. 

A promise was once made, that promise will be kept for years to come. As Team India retained the Numero Uno spot for the fifth consecutive year, the Indian skipper, who had once aspired, has stayed true to his promise. How did it all begin? What changes forced India to claim Test supremacy in such a short period of time?

How did it start? 

Realising that the pace bowlers will undeniably play an important role in fulfilling the quest, the skipper instilled a fitness culture in the dressing room. The introduction of the yo-yo test marked the advent of the process. After its inception as a compulsory passing test, the fitness test has clearly shown evidence of optimized fitness levels among Indian pacers in recent times. Be it the training sessions or during the game, Virat himself has set exacting standards and high tempo for his teammates to obey. Interestingly, the characteristics of the skipper also stimulated his teammates to fabricate the same intensity on the field. 

He recognised and backed a certain set of bowlers, giving them a longer run in the red-ball circuit. Ishant Sharma, whose career was constantly marred with injuries, received a lot of backing from his statemate, Virat Kohli. Jasprit Bumrah, who was making waves in the white-ball cricket, was fast-tracked to the Test team for the South African tour. Former Indian and current RCB strength and conditioning coach, Shankar Basu played a key role in the discovery of Mohammed Shami's fitter and healthier side, which he acknowledges as his greatest accomplishment during his tenure with the Indian team. 

2018 - A year that witnessed Indian pacers dictating terms on overseas soil. The likes of Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, and Jasprit Bumrah fired in unison, scalping 131 wickets combined. They became the most successful pace trio in a calendar year in Test cricket history.

A day after winning the 1st Test at the Adelaide Oval in 2018, India boarded a flight to Perth. During the journey, Virat Kohli gave up his business class seats to allow the pacers to travel in comfort. This gesture just gives us an indication of how the skipper looks after his troops.

In an exclusive chat with Harsha Bhogle during the show entitled 'Cricbuzz In Conversation, Ian Bishop lauded the current Indian pace bowling annex for its indefatigable spirit. "It is perhaps the best generation of talents of fast bowling India have produced. And it started a while ago. It takes my mind back to the West Indies pace quartet before my generation - the Marshalls, the Holdings, the Garners, the Roberts -- I'll stick Colin Croft in there." - Bishop said. 

In 2019, the quicks carried on from where they left off. The pace bowling quartet - Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah - registered 95 wickets at a staggering strike rate of 31.06. Subcontinent conditions don't offer much assistance to the fast bowlers, but Virat Kohli has used the pace bowling resources efficiently. The average and strike of the pace bowlers are astounding under the 32-year-old's tenure. 

Several pundits have lavished praise on Virat Kohli for constantly showing faith in pacers. Madan Lal opined that the current Indian skipper has played a massive part in the rapid development of Indian pacers. "The way Virat Kohli is doing it is unbelievable. He is on the right track with the pacers. You've got 4 or 5 bowlers who are going to win us a lot of matches in the near future." - He was then quoted as saying to sports analyst Joy Bhattacharjya during the show Sony Ten Pit Stop. 

Since Kohli took over the captaincy reins, the likes of Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have claimed a total of over 450 Test wickets. The four-match Test series against Australia was filled with narratives of individuals defying the odds despite being battered. Different individuals stepped up when it mattered the most. In the absence of experienced players, the younger lot - Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, and Natarajan - ensured that the team didn’t miss their services one bit. Such is the bench strength of this team. 

India's red-ball dominance has been a talking point in recent times primarily due to remarkable bowling performance of the pace bowling annex. Indian spinners have always been effective, but the emergence of fast bowlers is precisely what India needed. It's heartening to see the Indian pace bowling battery wreaking havoc on the opposition.

Unquestionably, Virat Kohli has played a significant role in India's meteoric rise in the Test arena. With Team India having dominated Test cricket for the last five years, winning the World Test Championship will be the cherry on top for Kohli's men.