Why Virat Kohli is a better captain for pace bowlers than MS Dhoni

India are no more poor travellers. They are able to plant a seed of doubt in the opposition’s mind whenever they travel abroad. Gone are the days when it was only the opposition pacers dominating proceedings in overseas conditions. Indian pacers have developed a reputation for 20 wickets.

“We don’t play only spinners, we play fast bowlers as well,” Virat Kohli said after a win over England during the nascent phase of his stint as Test captain. He can now proudly brag about India’s pacers being ‘right at the top’

Kohli had often reiterated that he wanted to see India pacers dominate the world when he set out as Test captain in 2014-15. The India skipper has certainly been able to live up to his words. The quartet of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav have been breaking records at will and instilling fear in the minds of opposition batsmen.

Under Virat Kohli, India’s record away from home has improved massively. From 2009 to to 2014, India played 30 matches overseas and managed just 6 wins with a win-loss ratio of 0.400. Over the next 6 years, India have improved that number to 1.181 — more wins than defeats.

What changed after MS Dhoni, under Virat Kohli?

One of the many reasons for India’s better performances on the road has undoubtedly been the improvement in their pace bowling department. At times, the pacers have managed to outshine the celebrated Indian spinners at home.

Virat Kohli has certainly backed and banked on his pacers. Even at home, the India skipper had pushed his pacers to bowl that extra over in a long spell, which has more often than not produced results.

World Cup-winning India pacer Madan Lal gave Virat Kohli a massive compliment recently, saying he has not seen a captain who has encouraged his pacers as much as Virat Kohli has over the last few years. “Unbelievable,” the former fast bowler said.

Virat Kohli’s trusted quartet and their magical numbers

Numbers do tell us the story. Under Virat Kohli, the trio of Shami, Ishant and Bumrah have been fantastic. When considering the top 4 bowlers (in terms of wickets) under the two captains, Kohli’s group is miles ahead.

Ishant has picked up 107 wickets in 36 matches at an impressive average of 25.46. Shami 142 in 39 matches at 24.88. Bumrah 68 in just 14 at a staggering average of 20.33. Umesh 93 in 33 at 30.53 despite not getting continued runs with the Test team.

When it comes to just overseas Tests, the numbers are still impressive. Shami has picked 91 from 25 Tests at 26.46 while Ishant has picked 75 from 22 at 23.58 and Bumrah 68 from 14 at 20.33. Umesh Yadav has been an anomaly as he averages 46.45 overseas.

On the other hand, none of the pacers (with more than 10 Tests under Dhoni) even had averages of under 30. Ishant Sharma averaged 36.65. Zaheer Khan averaged 30.62.

Consistency overseas: Kohli > Dhoni

While India seems to have identified a core group of fast bowlers who have played consistently under Virat Kohli, there was a lot of rotation under MS Dhoni who had to make do with pacers who were in the transformative phase of their careers.

Under Virat Kohli, only 11 fast bowlers (including part-timers) have played in 55 Tests whereas 19 played under MS Dhoni in 60 Tests.

@MdShami11 Photo

Only Zaheer and Ishant shared the majority of the workload under MS Dhoni. Ishant (47) has played the most under Dhoni. Zaheer played 31. And the next best is S Sreesanth with 13. Umesh Yadav played 10 over a 4-year period. Mohammed Shami played 10 in just a little over a year. Bhuvneshwar Kumar played 11.

Praveen Kumar (6), Varun Aaron (4), Abhimanyu Mithun (4) were others who made guest appearances in whites under Dhoni.

Ishant Sharma, in a recent interaction during a Ranji Trophy 2019-20 outing, pointed out that pacers were ‘rotated a lot’ which made it difficult for pacers to find consistency.

“Look during Dhoni’s time, some of us didn’t have that much experience. Also, the fast bowlers would be rotated a lot, that’s also a reason that consistency as a group couldn’t be achieved.

“If you know that you are a pool of 3-4 fast bowlers (now with Jasprit Bumrah), that increases communication. Earlier, there would be 6 to 7 bowlers, communication wasn’t there,” Ishant had said.

When it comes to performances in overseas Tests, the numbers explain the dominance under Virat Kohli. In overseas conditions, India used 18 fast bowlers (including part-timers) under Dhoni in 29 Tests while Kohli has used just 10 pacers in 29 Tests.

It is well-documented that Dhoni looked for control from his pacers even in overseas conditions while Kohli took the more aggressive route with his pacers. In fact, Kohli has been able to achieve more control with his approach.

Under Dhoni, India pacers averaged 38.69 in 30 overseas matches. They struck at a rate of 65.10. On the other hand, under Virat Kohli, the pacers have averaged 26.72 in 29 matches and struck at an impressive rate of 50.60.

Talking about control, under Kohli, pacers have conceded at 3.16 away from home. The rate increases to 3.56 under Dhoni.

Their performances with the pace bowling units in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) tell us a better story.

Under honi, pacers have picked 235 wickets in 23 matches at an average of 41.31 and strike rate of 68.6. Yes, you read that right, 41.31!

Under Kohli, India pacers have picked up 194 wickets in 16 matches at an average of 28.61 and strike rate of 53.9.
The control has obviously been better under Kohli (3.18 economy rate) when compared to MS Dhoni (3.60).

Pacers’ performance in SENA countries

It has certainly been an ‘unbelievable’ ride for the pacers under Kohli.