Three bowlers, two bowling allrounders is the way forward in ODIs: Kohli

Ahead of India’s five-match One-Day International series against Australia, Virat Kohli had a clear message to his batting group: Be versatile and ready to bat in any position or situation.

Talking about the role of KL Rahul, with Ajinkya Rahane set to open with Rohit Sharma in Shikhar Dhawan’s absence, Kohli conceded it would take time to adjust to different positions but made it clear that players have no choice but to adapt.

“I think, if you look to bat in the position that you bat in one format, in all the formats, then it can get very difficult for the team to find the right kind of balance, including that player,” said Kohli in Chennai on Saturday (September 16). “So I think players need to adapt to what the team requirement is more often. For example, I've opened in T20 cricket as well. So I would do that any day if there is a guy in the middle order who is going to strengthen (the side). So I should be flexible enough to do that. I think it’s up to the player to get versatile in a manner that he can take up different positions (based on) what the team requires him to do.”

The Indian captain, however, stressed that the side would back Rahul in his new role and give him a fair chance to prove himself in the middle order.

“It takes time, I am not saying it is easy,” he explained. “If you see Jinks (Rahane) as well – he has played in the middle order in the ODIs, he plays in the middle order in Test matches. He's also opened a lot in ODIs as well. He also felt that he found it difficult to switch. Now we're backing Jinks at the top of the order. So he knows his plans are clear.

“So once you get that balance with giving that player more chances, then he gets more confident of his role in the team. Obviously, Manish (Pandey) and Kedar (Jadhav) are there as well, so there'll always be competition for a particular spot. KL is an outstanding talent. He's proved himself in all formats. And he is someone that needs to be backed because we believe that he has the ability. Once he gets his role down, he'll start winning us games. We're very sure of that.”

Talking about the bowling combination, Kohli felt the way forward in one-day cricket was three bowlers and two bowling-allrounders to ensure depth in both batting and bowling.

“A lot of teams are heading that way. You need depth in batting, you need depth in bowling as well,” he said. “I think those two allrounders provide that kind of balance to you. That's why we have someone like Hardik (Pandya) or Axar (Patel). Or (Ravindra) Jadeja – he is a proper left-arm allrounder. You need to identify at least two of those guys for your side to have more strength in both the departments. That's something that all the sides around the world are going to move towards because of the strength it gives you in both departments. Along with the guy being a top fielder as well, that's very, very important. You need a proper allrounder and not a bowling and a batting allrounder. That’s something we have focused on. It has paid good dividends in the last series as well and that's something we will look to continue as it gives us good balance.”

With Axar spraining his left ankle while playing football on Friday, it wasn't surprising then that the selectors named Jadeja as his replacement for the first three ODIs. Axar's injury could also open the doors for India to play two wrist spinners in Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal.

“It is a great advantage to have two wrist spinners in your team, especially when both are so different to each other and both can pick up wickets in the middle overs,” said Kohli. “That is the most important thing in one-day cricket. You can have as many dot balls as you want but if you can’t pick up wickets, you can go for 10-12 runs an over for a good 12-over period. It is important to keep picking wickets and have breakthroughs throughout. Those two guys have provided that to us and they are very confident coming into this series. They are in a zone where they don’t mind getting hit as long as they pick up three-four wickets, which I think is a very good space to be in and it's something that gives me, as a captain, lot of confidence.”

How the spinners go could well decide if this series will be a repeat of the 2013 clash which saw plenty of high-scoring games. If such a scenario is repeated, Kohli said it would be important to be realistic about the expectations on the bowlers.

“If it is happening on both sides, then obviously you have to understand the wickets are really good to play,” he explained. “And even saving 10-15 runs can actually make a difference. You don’t need to start off thinking you need to bowl out a team for 250 or 260 if the wicket is good to bat on. Then you are setting expectations that could not be achieved. You need to be realistic on how many runs can be scored on this pitch and how many can we give less for us to give an advantage when we bat.

“The game is moving so rapidly that even in Test cricket, runs are scored at four an over without losing too many wickets. The skill level of the batsmen has changed according to how the game is moving on with T20 coming on. The effect of that is going to be on the other formats as well. I don’t think you can pressurise the bowlers too much in that regard. But where there is a situation of picking up wickets and they have assistance from the pitch, you will see low-scoring games as well. The two new balls, especially in the subcontinent, becomes difficult for the bowlers to get wickets at regular intervals. They just have to be smart in patches to get the total down.”

The Australian challenge could well be a massive shift in terms of intensity and competitiveness compared to the Sri Lanka tour, but Kohli stressed India wasn't preparing any differently.

“I don’t think that we need to look at any series differently,” he said. “As I mentioned in Sri Lanka as well, your preparation should matter more than who you are playing against. So obviously you'll assess strengths and weaknesses of all sides. As I have said before, you can’t raise or decrease your intensity according to who you are playing against. That's not being fair to the sport and that's something that we as a team do not believe in. We like to prepare the same way and we like to play with the same kind of intensity regardless of who we are playing against.”