The ebullient yet committed Virat Kohli, appointed full-fledged captain of the Indian cricket team for the three Test series against Sri lanka, had a mission — to end the 22-year series win drought on lankan soil.
Obviously, Kohli was under intense pressure, leading as he was a team in transition. After the retirement of the ‘Fab Four’ (Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS laxman and Sourav Ganguly) in batting and Anil Kumble and Zaheer Khan in bowling, the Men in Blue had been struggling to fill that void and were striving to make their presence felt in alien conditions.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni who emerged as the most successful captain of the Indian cricket team despite his none too impressive record on overseas tours cried off as a Test captain midway into the series in Australia and that catapulted Kohli to the helm. Though India ate humble pie on that tour in both versions of the game, Virat Kohli got recognition for his on-field aggression and optimism. His performance with the willow was also quite impressive as he added a coveted three-figure mark against his name in his very first game as a protem-skipper of the team. After that he lost his Midas touch with a series flop shows but recovered his form timely against Sri lanka in this series.
True that Kohli got the services of proven performers like Shikhar Dhawan before he retired hurt, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma and young Turks like Kl Rahul and others, not to forget Ravinchandran Ashwin's attacking form, coupled with the resurrection of Ishant Sharma and guile of Amit Mishra, but bringing out the best from their shelves was not easy task.
Taming the lions from the Emerald Isle in their lair was a difficult proposition, especially when Kohli had an arduous task of helming a young India in an away series.
Brushing aside all these niggles, Kohli proved that he had in him to grow as a mature cricketer and captain. He marshalled his resources well in bringing cohesion to his unit.
Having stumbled at the doorstep of a sure victory in the opening Galle Test where India collapsed from domineering position through three quarters of the match, Kohli made sure that the embarrassment of Galle did not upset his mission. He did well to exhort his boys to claw their way back in a remarkable way in the second Test and give the Islanders a taste of their own medicine.
In the first Test, India needed 178 runs to open their campaign on a bright note but got a big setback when a certain Rangana Herath came in their way to achieve the improbable with a career best figure of seven Indian wickets to his credit.
In the second Test, Team India returned the favour with Ashwin and Amit Mishra spoiling Kumar Sangakkara's swansong by finishing him and the team off 250 runs short of a victory with which the lankans could have clinched the series.
The versatile Ashwin, who emerged as the highest wicket-taker and walked away as the Man of the Series, did the star trek with the menacing Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra with their all-round performance in the third Test.
All said, this is a solid beginning for Kohli as a Test captain, who rose to the occasion to justify the faith of the selectors in his debut.
However, a bigger task stares the young Kohli: To keep the momentum going and look for those winning combinations from within his relatively inexperienced team mates to perform with consistency against stiffer oppositions like England, Australia and South Africa.