Debate on how well Kohli led India in the lost matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan is purely academic. Let's go by the results. India was hardly in control of both matches after losing the toss. Both Sri Lanka and Pakistan were totally in control of the chase, and given India's bowling resources and rivals who know our weaknesses inside out, Kohli stood little chance of pulling off a miracle.
But this is the way as it should be. There cannot be a better MRI of Indian cricket team than the results in Asia Cup. India has problems in all departments of the game—Dhoni's absence has only worsened it. India cannot continue to escape, riding the wave of one or two individual performance. Had Kohli succeeded against Pakistan with the bat, the result would have been different, and India still in the reckoning for the final. But that alone would not have addressed the team's fatal flaws in building and accelerating an innings, restricting the opposition to take crucial wickets and support the bowling effort by smart on field movements.
As captain Kohli, however, deserves credit for giving leg-spinner Amit Mishra a game against Pakistan. Ignored for long by Dhoni, Mishra justified Kohli's faith in him by bowling well, taking two wickets and tightening the flow of runs.
But Kohli has frittered opportunity as well. It should have been important to include Cheteshwar Pujara in the XI from the beginning of the tournament. Pujara, who likes to bide his time to play strokes, should not be seen as a handicap in the 50- over format. The game against Bangladesh would have been ideal to Test Pujara, but for all his aggressive body language on the field, Kohli froze in the dressing room. Winning every game is a must in a tournament but you should also be willing to consider long term solutions for the team's good. Now it is certain that Pujara will get his game against Afghanistan on Wednesday. But it is a loser's match and what does it do to the confidence of Pujara the one-day player? And it is important that for India to have a successful defence of its title in the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the team cannot depend only on flat-track bullies.
That Kohli is fast learning skipper-talk is quite interesting. His calm and claim that the side showed a lot of character in taking the game against Pakistan into the final over will not have many takers. May be he is forgetting the fact that he is leading India, not Bangladesh or Afghanistan. Then, again, Kohli's confession is worth noting. "We are making mistakes regularly, which we need to correct because they are costing us in international cricket. If we make three or four crucial errors in each game, it's quite costly in the end. That is one thing we have to learn from and improve on because there's quite a bit of inexperience in batting and bowling. People learn from mistakes and I hope in the coming games we don't repeat these mistakes and play more smartly at crucial times."
Of course, you learn from mistakes. But India has made enough of it leaving fans wondering about the learning abilities of everyone involved.
Dhoni, too, would have learnt his lessons while giving rest to his 'side-strain'. The stage is now set for Dhoni to come back as captain for the T20 World Cup to begin in Dhaka. And the Pakistan challenge awaits them on March 21. May be the result could differ.
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