Virat Kohli’s explicit lack of confidence in some of his players can impact their own self-belief and, consequently, performances.
The biggest bone of contention to emerge from the Indian camp during the lost Test in Perth was not the misreading of the pitch and the resultant selections, be it not picking Ravindra Jadeja or Bhuvneshwar Kumar in place of Umesh Yadav. It is how captain Virat Kohli has little confidence in some of his teammates. Or, to be more precise, how quickly he loses confidence in some.
It used to be said about Sachin Tendulkar that he expected even his lesser-skilled teammates to be as good as him, and would get frustrated when they didn’t play according to his expectations. Kohli doesn’t seem to have the confidence that some of his teammates can extend themselves. It’s a viciously self-fulfilling prophecy: the more you think they can’t do it, they won’t be able to do it.
Take the case of Jadeja. Kohli couched his non-selection as praise for Nathan Lyon. “If you see, the rough didn’t have much assistance. It was just the pace on the ball that Lyon bowled that he got the wickets that he got.”
It’s startling considering that the rough did play a part in some of Lyon’s wickets, like in the way he dismissed Murali Vijay in the second innings. Even Kohli’s dismissal in the second essay was in part due to the fear of the rough — he thought the ball would spin more than it did because there was rough there and hence, played well inside the line only to see the ball clip the outer edge.
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