India have already lost the three-match Test series.
Indian Captain Virat Kohli (Photo Credit- AFP)
Ravichandran Ashwin, the spin wizard of India who had delivered well in both the Test matches was dropped for the third Test, as Indian squad went with only pacers in the final Test match against South Africa at Wanderers.
Virat Kohli’s selection was ‘shocking, controversial and questionable’ but nobody was surprised. The reason why people were expecting some major changes in India’s playing eleven was because Virat had already stunned the cricketer lovers as well cricket experts with his decision to drop Bhuvneshwar Kumar for Ishant Sharma in the second Test.
Virat justified his selection by saying that they prefer to go with Sharma because of the bounce of the pitch. The Indian skipper was heavily criticised for dropping the star pacer from the playing XI. Virender Sehwag even went on saying that Kohli should drop himself from England tour if he failed in South Africa.
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The questions on Virat Kohli’s selections are nothing new. It all started in the opening Test match when Virat decided to bench Ajinkya Rahane for Rohit Sharma. Not just Rahane, but even KL Rahul was dropped from the squad at Newlands, giving way to Shikhar Dhawan.
India have already lost the three-match Test series.
However, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes that Virat’s selection is nonetheless increasing the TRPs of cricket. In an interview with ESPN Cricinfo, Manjrekar said, “We are calling it Kohli’s selection, but there are others involved in the decision making. But somehow you get the impression that he is the man in charge. So his selections are interesting, controversial, seemingly illogical, but for me, it is only increasing the TRPs of cricket.”
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