The final Test: Inexperienced captains clash in dead rubber

With series decided, Kohli and Smith look for morale-boosting win

KARACHI: India’s new captain Virat Kohli has big boots to fill as MS Dhoni walks out of Test cricket. The 25-year old Delhi Daredevil has enjoyed a tremendous summer Down Under with the bat, scoring three hundreds to shrug off the disappointing run in the English summer of 2014.

Dhoni, who called an end to his career following the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, transformed his team into a resilient unit during his 60 Tests at the helm. Under him the Indians retained their potency at home; hammering almost every team in their sights.

But Dhoni, despite breaking new grounds in ODI and T20 formats through wins in world championships of either format, struggled to change the fortunes in Tests overseas.

Kohli can possibly do one better than his predecessor if he succeeds in winning against Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa in their own backyards.

A win in the fourth and final Test in Sydney starting today is not going to do much to alter the outcome of the series, which the Australians lead unassailably 2-0, but it will doubtless be a step in the right direction.

India have already lost the Border-Gavaskar trophy following defeats in Adelaide and Melbourne but Kohli feels that his team can improve their poor record at Sydney where they have won just once in 10 Tests.

“There were quite a few things that I sat down and analysed in Adelaide that can be improved on and I've thought about them in the past few days,” said Kohli. "What are the things that I can correct from Adelaide, the mistakes I made in that game? Hopefully, I'll get that right and try to make the right decisions in every situation out there in the middle.”

Kohli has an average of 83 in the series and if he can better that in Sydney then his team’s chances of a win will improve significantly.

But the Achilles heel for the tourists is their shoddy bowling and it will be interesting to see how the new captain copes with having a subpar bowling unit. Time and again the bowlers have allowed the Aussies to claw back from a position of strength, with the hosts’ tail wagging at almost every opportunity.

Kohli’s opposite number, Steve Smith, is also captaining his country for the first time in a Test series and wants to finish the Test summer on a high despite having won the series already.

"It's still another Test match for us, we'll be looking to win," said Smith. “We're still going to play that aggressive brand of cricket that we've been playing the entire summer. I don't think we're going to change anything."

Bowling spearhead Mitchell Johnson will sit out from the final Test due to a hamstring strain. In his absence, India have possibly their best chance in years of registering a win in the longest format; Kohli and his men must cash in.

 

 

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