Team India's Unrelenting Intensity

There were some star turns—from Pujara and Bumrah and Kohli—but this coveted overseas series victory in Australia was also about team India’s unrelenting intensity.

- Boria Majumdar

India had just returned from South Africa in February 2017 and all the buzz was about a 5-1 one day international (ODI) series win against the Proteas. But Captain Kohli, who’d batted like a man possessed, was restrained in celebration. Reason: a Test series victory in South Africa had proved elusive. It had looked within grasp: there had been some excellent bowling performances but the batting was a let-down. Kohli was aware of this, but he also knew that he now had an unorthodox fast bowler who could turn a Test match on its head inside a session. “AB DeVilliers told me (Jasprit) Bumrah was the most difficult bowler he’d faced on that tour. He generated awkward bounce and left the batsman very little time. In conditions that help fast bowling, he can be a real match-winner,” said Kohli, when we met in Kolkata a month after the South Africa tour. With Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma also in the mix, Kohli’s ‘Mission Overseas’, fast turning into an “obsession” in his own words, seemed achievable when the team travelled to England in July 2018.

England, however, didn’t go according to plan. In the first Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham, India forsook the solidity of Cheteshwar Pujara at No. 3 to accommodate a fifth bowler. The team couldn’t chase 194 in the fourth innings. Kohli again was stellar, but he had no support. This was the leitmotif of the tour despite the odd contribution from Pujara and Rahane; Virat stood out as the lone warrior with the bat. And despite a creditable bowling performance, India received a 1-4 series drubbing, raising questions about the team’s prospects in overseas conditions and Kohli’s ability to pick the right team in conditions unfamiliar to him and the team.