Writing off Virat Kohli is the biggest mistake: Dale Steyn to India Today

virat Kohli’s impressive run as India captain could see some changes, as the team braces up for nine away Test matches; five coming up against England followed by four in Australia, later this year.

After taking over from MS Dhoni, captain Kohli has won 60 percent of the 35 Test matches he has led which is an Indian record in terms of percentages.

While Test wins outside the sub-continent against strong opposition don’t come easy, the onus would be on Kohli and his team to prove, just the way fundamentally strong stocks withstand turbulence at the stock exchange, so will they.

Before the first ball is bowled, Kohli will have some selection calls to make in the series opener in Edgbaston, next week. Cheteshwar Pujara, most suited to bat No.3 is woefully out of form. With just 172 runs at an average of 14 in 6 county Championship games, Pujara’s Yorkshire stint hasn’t done much to boost his confidence before the Test matches.

Pujara did get some runs in the one-day games for Yorkshire but lost his wicket cheaply twice in the tour game against Essex.

With the strokeplaying KL Rahul successfully carrying his white ball touch to the tour game, Kohli-Shastri combine could be tempted to replace Pujara with Rahul. The present team management has not been shy of adopting horses for courses policy even in Test selections.

However if opener Shikhar Dhawan’s twin failures in the practice game are accounted for before selection, Rahul could well open with Vijay and Pujara saved the axe, given his bad-weather batting skills.