Virat Kohli and his love for fast bowlers

Gone are those days when India relied heavily on the spinners to annihilate 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. 

In 2015, Virat Kohli assumed the full-time captaincy duties at a time when India was 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 of winning a Test match not just at home, but in testing conditions such as Australia, England and South Africa. 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 state-mate, 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 179 wickets combined in just 14 Tests. They equalled the record of the famed Windies trio for most wickets taken by a trio away from home In a calendar year. 

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.

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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 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 453 Test wickets in just 53 Tests. The numbers speak for themselves, don't they?