Virat Kohli’s decline leaves India pondering unthinkable question ahead of Australia series

The once-great batter has made just two Test centuries since the end of 2019 as scrutiny grows on his continued place in the India side ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Virat Kohli has endured a lean period of five years in Test cricket (Getty)

There is a famous portrait of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger, painted as part of the Whitehall Mural in the mid-1530s. By the time of its creation, the Tudor royal was in his forties and already dealing with some of the health issues that would come to riddle his final years, while also overcoming the serious injuries suffered in a jousting accident at Greenwich Palace.

Yet Holbein paints the picture of a potentate in his prime. Henry stands tall and broad, legs spread in a power pose, showing no signs of physical decline. It is a piece of propaganda that has endured even after the destruction of the mural in 1698, a great many copies and cartoons shaping the perception of the ruler across centuries.

Perhaps India’s own ageing monarch requires such a flattering portrayal. Virat Kohli begins this week’s series against Australia as a faded force; a king who once ruled with bravado and brilliance, now seemingly in terminal decline. Statistically, the figures are stark: since the start of 2020, Kohli has averaged 31.68 in Test cricket. While glimpses of his genius are still sighted in white-ball cricket, this is no dip, blip or loss of form, but the sort of sustained slide that is rarely reversed.

Virat Kohli has struggled for runs since the start of 2020 (PA)

His past oeuvre has meant Kohli has dodged more serious questions about his place in the side, but with one of cricket’s biggest series about to begin, a perhaps overdue narrative is starting to stir. “He’s only scored two Test hundreds in the last five years,” former Australia captain Ricky Ponting said on the ICC Review podcast as the two sides prepare to contest the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. “That’s a concern. There wouldn’t be anyone else probably even playing international cricket as a top-order batsman that’s only scored two Test match hundreds in five years.”

If there is a certain sadness to a figure who once exerted total command at the crease no longer having full use of his batting faculties, factors beyond his control have also played a part. During his golden age, India largely played on friendly and flat decks at home, with the hosts able to rely on the voracity for runs in their batting line-up and two world-class spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to win Test matches. Of late, the strategy has shifted. Generally, result pitches that have offered turn or seam movement from early in Test matches have been favoured, with deteriorating surfaces proving problematic for both home and visiting batters.

If the extension of the period without an Indian series defeat on home soil to 12 years suggested that the new formula was working, last month their comeuppance came. With India’s batters out of nick, a New Zealand side missing their own batting great in Kane Williamson and possessing a vastly inferior spin attack nonetheless dominated. The first Blackcaps Test win in India since 1988 was followed by two more; India had been whitewashed, with Kohli’s contributing four single-figure scores across six innings.

Virat Kohli was short of runs against New Zealand (AP)

It is a defeat that has piled the pressure on an Indian side that should have travelled to Australia with real confidence. They have, of course, won on their last two trips to the country, the history-making achievements of a team led by Kohli in 2018/19 followed up by an almost second-string side securing a most remarkable series victory in Brisbane in January 2021.

But the nature of their defeats to New Zealand has meant that uncomfortable, almost unconscionable questions are beginning to be asked. It is not just Kohli in the spotlight, but Ashwin and Jadeja, too, plus captain Rohit Sharma, who will miss the opening Test in Perth after the recent arrival of his second child.

“I have got no concerns whatever over Virat and Rohit,” India head coach Gautam Gambhir replied dismissively in October when pressed on the pair’s future. “I think they are incredibly tough men.

“They’ve achieved a lot for Indian cricket, and they will continue to achieve a lot in future as well. I think for me, the most important thing is that they still working really hard, they are still passionate, they still want to achieve a lot more and that is something which is very important. The hunger in that dressing room is incredibly important for me and for the entire group as well. I feel there’s a lot of hunger, especially after what has happened in the last series."

India captain Rohit Sharma is also facing questions over his future (AFP via Getty)

Sharma’s absence and an untimely thumb injury to Shubman Gill will necessitate a top-order reshuffle for India at the fast and firm Optus Stadium, a venue at which the hosts are yet to lose. The versatile KL Rahul is likely to return to open alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal, while the lanky left-hander Devdutt Padikkal has seemingly been deemed better equipped to handle the pace and bounce than the uncapped Abhimanyu Easwaran. Under such circumstances, Kohli - who averages 54 in Australia - recapturing past glories would be most welcome.

India’s tumult has rather eased the scrutiny on the continuing questions and alternative answers in Australia’s batting line-up. The ambitious vaulting of Steve Smith up the order after David Warner’s retirement appears to have been abandoned for good, with Cameron Green’s back surgery allowing Smith to slide back to his preferred number four slot. The selfless, watchful Nathan McSweeney is relatively untested as an opener but is well-liked as a leader, and showed just enough in a recent Australia A fixture against the tourists to earn the selectors’ faith as Usman Khawaja’s partner.

If Jasprit Bumrah – who will stand in for Sharma as India’s skipper – and the rest of the visiting attack will give McSweeney’s technique and ticker a serious examination, a pre-Test net session on a spicy Perth surface against Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc served as perfect preparation for the 25-year-old.

Nathan McSweeney will open the batting for Australia against India (Getty)

"It was a good challenge. I got through it unscathed," said McSweeney earlier this week. “I didn’t put much pressure on them but they bowled really well and great preparation to face those guys who are quality bowlers.

"I think everyone is going to have their opinion [about my selection]. I try and not read too much into it. I think for me I know what works and I feel very capable [of going] and [doing] the job. I feel I’m batting the best I ever have. Hopefully I can go out there and execute that on Friday.”

Australia v India begins on 22 November on TNT Sports and discovery+ at 02:15