The second ICC World Test Championship cycle has concluded with Australia winning the title. A new champion has emerged with India finishing runners-up for the second time in a row.
The Test mace continues to evade them and while they are bound to face criticism for not being able to cross the final hurdle, making it to the summit clash on successive occasions in a two-year cycle is still an impressive achievement.
For a team like India though, runners-up finish doesn’t bring any joy due to the world-class cricketers they have at their disposal for some time now. Whether it’s Tests or limited-overs cricket, they have, across departments, players who easily slot into the category of all-time great.
Virat Kohli is certainly one of the finest batters to have played the game. His record speaks for itself.
Surely, a slump did leave a mark on his sparkling numbers but in isolation, they still are mighty impressive.
Kohli’s century drought ended last year during Asia Cup and since then, he has peeled off centuries in ODIs and Test cricket too signaling that he’s nearing his best.
However, a damning stat has emerged that shows Kohli has fallen way behind his counterparts when performances from the WTC 2021-23 cycle are taken into account.
In Tests involving India in the WTC cycle (2021-23), Indian batters have fared better compared to their opposition for every batting position barring number 4. And the difference for that position is large enough to cover the gains made by the other batters in the top 6. pic.twitter.com/82imlR09KN— Soham Sarkhel (@Soham_Sarkhel) June 12, 2023
In Test cricket, Kohli bats at no. 4 , a spot usually reserved for the best batter of the eleven. Steve Smith (Australia), Kane Williamson (New Zealand), Joe Root (England), Babar Azam (Pakistan) all bat at the spot for their respective teams.
So in the WTC final, the failure of Indian batters was no doubt a primary reason why they fell behind Australia.
During the 2021-23 cycle though in Tests involving India, when average for each position is taken into account, their batters have performed better than their opponents at each spot except for one – the No. 4 spot.
The average for No. 4 spot is 31.96 for India compared to 45.58 for the same position by their opponents.
Kohli played 17 Tests during the cycle and scored 932 runs at 32.13.
In all these Tests where Kohli played, his counterpart at no. 4 scored a total of 1337 runs at 49.51.
As India enter a new Test cycle, they will hope a much improved performances from their batters, especially from Kohli who himself would want to get back to the standard that at one stage made him untouchable.
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