India Vs England - Bat, Captain, Bat

Virat Kohli’s form may hold the key to India’s fortunes in the series

- Partha Bhaduri

Heading into the fourth Test against England, can India spy a bit of opportunity in the midst of all the chaos they seem to be in?

It could all depend on their talismanic skipper Virat Kohli, who, like all impactful leaders, has moulded this team in his image and forged a tight, combative, resourceful unit.

Yet a time must invariably come when usual formulas, quick tips and natural instincts don’t do the trick. For Kohli, that time is now.

In the cricketing world, it is a given that weight of runs will elevate one to the leadership role. It is only natural, then, that like all great batsmen who are handed the captaincy, Kohli’s chief characteristics – poise, confidence, swagger, resourcefulness, the ability to transfuse his often-uncanny energy into the team in times of crises – remain in equilibrium only as long as he is scoring runs.

And those runs have been hard to come by. It has happened in spite of Kohli not always conforming to the traditional notion of being out of form.