The last time India and Australia played a series of four matches (or more) with no changes in captaincy on either side, the Aussies were still a largely all-conquering team and Clarke and Dhoni had just about established themselves as mainstays. The current series is the fourth full one since then (excluding the two match series in 2010) and a combination of injury, retirement, and suspensions has meant that each one has featured multiple leaders. And this time has been one better with changes on both sides. I can't remember when that happened last even in a series involving England :-)
Going in, the expectation was that Dhoni would miss the first Test but captain for the rest and Haddin would stand in for Clarke for the full series. Two shocks of varying degrees in Hughes' tragic death and Dhoni's sudden retirement have turned that around on its head and its the future leaders (and currently the best batsman) on either side who're in charge heading into Sydney.
For Kohli and India, its certainly a new era and a chance to start to shape a team for the future. So far in this tour, the batting (or a few of the batsmen) has shown signs of settling but the bowling continues to be horrid (as Kohli is finding out the hard way at the time of writing this). Ishant Sharma is now not just the most experienced player in the side but also the only bowler who appears to have any sort of control over his radar. Its unfortunate that Shami, Yadav, and Aaron who all made bright starts to their careers in India haven't shown the ability to replicate anything remotely close to it overseas. Worse still, they can't even appear to do the basics of putting six balls in the same place in an over consistently. And when Australia's spinner outbowls India's you know things can't be good. Kohli has made all the right noises about boldness as captain so far but he will quickly realise that when your bowlers can't back it up with performances, those same words can get very hollow very soon. He will learn with time but unless India can find bowlers who can do the same, that ranking is not going anywhere anytime soon.
Steve Smith has no such worries with his bowling line-up, not for the moment at least. Harris and Johnson are certainly amongst the top bowlers in world cricket today and probably amongst the best ten that Australia have ever produced, certainly on the basis of strike rate. Hazlewood and Lyon have also been solid and a bench consisting of Starc, Siddle, Pattinson, Cummins etc is one that most teams would be very envious of. Its not a stretch to say that when fully fit, any of these guys would be better than the drivel that goes in the name of Indian pace bowling.
It is the source of runs that will give Smith and Australia more cause to worry, especially for the future. With Clarke's return uncertain, there is a dangerous degree of dependence on Warner and Smith to do the century making. Rogers has contributed consistently but he won't be around much longer and the rest of the line-up hasn't been shown up only because the bowling they've faced has been so shoddy. Watson is clearly on borrowed time, and Marsh and Burns nowhere near settled. England will not be overly concerned about the summer just yet, especially if Anderson and Broad can stay fit.
India's batting on the other hand is its sole shining star at the moment, and especially compared to the bowling looks positively opulent. Kohli, Rahane, and Vijay have all gone a long way to establishing their credentials overseas and Pujara and Rohit Sharma are too good to not do the same fairly soon. There's lots of contenders around for the keeper's slot as well and Dhoni's batting shouldn't be missed much. His calmness as skipper on the other hand will be, especially when the bowling is going at five an over (as they are right now).
For now, I'm sticking with my original 3-0 prediction. That would plummet India to #7 on the ICC rankings, which seems a good assessment of the task that lies ahead for Kohli. The new era is not quite here yet for India, at least by way of results.
Going in, the expectation was that Dhoni would miss the first Test but captain for the rest and Haddin would stand in for Clarke for the full series. Two shocks of varying degrees in Hughes' tragic death and Dhoni's sudden retirement have turned that around on its head and its the future leaders (and currently the best batsman) on either side who're in charge heading into Sydney.
For Kohli and India, its certainly a new era and a chance to start to shape a team for the future. So far in this tour, the batting (or a few of the batsmen) has shown signs of settling but the bowling continues to be horrid (as Kohli is finding out the hard way at the time of writing this). Ishant Sharma is now not just the most experienced player in the side but also the only bowler who appears to have any sort of control over his radar. Its unfortunate that Shami, Yadav, and Aaron who all made bright starts to their careers in India haven't shown the ability to replicate anything remotely close to it overseas. Worse still, they can't even appear to do the basics of putting six balls in the same place in an over consistently. And when Australia's spinner outbowls India's you know things can't be good. Kohli has made all the right noises about boldness as captain so far but he will quickly realise that when your bowlers can't back it up with performances, those same words can get very hollow very soon. He will learn with time but unless India can find bowlers who can do the same, that ranking is not going anywhere anytime soon.
Steve Smith has no such worries with his bowling line-up, not for the moment at least. Harris and Johnson are certainly amongst the top bowlers in world cricket today and probably amongst the best ten that Australia have ever produced, certainly on the basis of strike rate. Hazlewood and Lyon have also been solid and a bench consisting of Starc, Siddle, Pattinson, Cummins etc is one that most teams would be very envious of. Its not a stretch to say that when fully fit, any of these guys would be better than the drivel that goes in the name of Indian pace bowling.
It is the source of runs that will give Smith and Australia more cause to worry, especially for the future. With Clarke's return uncertain, there is a dangerous degree of dependence on Warner and Smith to do the century making. Rogers has contributed consistently but he won't be around much longer and the rest of the line-up hasn't been shown up only because the bowling they've faced has been so shoddy. Watson is clearly on borrowed time, and Marsh and Burns nowhere near settled. England will not be overly concerned about the summer just yet, especially if Anderson and Broad can stay fit.
India's batting on the other hand is its sole shining star at the moment, and especially compared to the bowling looks positively opulent. Kohli, Rahane, and Vijay have all gone a long way to establishing their credentials overseas and Pujara and Rohit Sharma are too good to not do the same fairly soon. There's lots of contenders around for the keeper's slot as well and Dhoni's batting shouldn't be missed much. His calmness as skipper on the other hand will be, especially when the bowling is going at five an over (as they are right now).
For now, I'm sticking with my original 3-0 prediction. That would plummet India to #7 on the ICC rankings, which seems a good assessment of the task that lies ahead for Kohli. The new era is not quite here yet for India, at least by way of results.
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