Post–Kohli Test cricket transition: From 20-wicket obsession to batting depth—Is India’s defensive approach eroding their winning edge built by Virat Kohli?
In a move that led criticism from many pundits, Team India packed their XI with three all-rounders in the second Test of a five-match series against England despite being 0-1 down. The Shubman Gill-led India in the current transitional phase, has moved away from the philosophy that defined the Virat Kohli era: to take 20 wickets at all costs.
This shift marks a change in India’s template in Test cricket. India have managed just one win in the last nine Tests, displaying India’s struggle not just overseas but at home as well.
The Kohli Blueprint: 20 Wickets or Bust
To understand why Kohli’s legacy still looms large, it’s worth looking at the numbers, approach and the mindset behind them. Kohli led India in 68 Tests, winning 40, the fourth-most in the history of the format and 13 more of any other Indian captain. His win-loss ratio of 2.352 (40 wins, 17 losses) stands head and shoulders above the rest. By comparison, Rohit Sharma, with a 10-Test cut-off, is a distant second at 1.714.
When the 36-year-old stepped down after more than seven years at the helm, he had led India to nearly a quarter of their total Test wins (166 at the time).
India’s legacy in the longest format of the game before Kohli wasn’t inspiring. For over 82 years, until his appointment, Men in Blue had managed only 38 overseas Test wins, many of them coming against depleted or weak sides. Six wins came against Bangladesh, three each against Zimbabwe and New Zealand (1967-68, arguably the weakest Test side back then) and two in Australia in 1977-78 when the hosts were depleted due to the Kerry Packer saga.
India’s real overseas wins stood at 24 before Kohli. But in his fearless era, India added 16 more overseas wins under his captaincy, or 18, if you include the iconic 2020-21 series in Australia, where Ajinkya Rahane led the side in his absence. None of these victories came against minnows. Even the five wins in Sri Lanka (2015 and 2017) were against a side that went on to beat Australia 3-0 (2016), Pakistan 2-0 (UAE, 2017-18), and South Africa both home and away between 2018 and 2019.
This was no ordinary Indian Test side. This was Kohli’s India: built on fitness, fast bowling, and fearlessness. India even won 18 consecutive Test series between 2012-13 and 2024-25, with Kohli leading 11 of them and Rahane one more.
But Kohli’s biggest contribution wasn’t statistical, it was philosophical.
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The Attacking Mindset
Virat Kohli’s India chased victories instead of draws even before the introduction of the World Test Championship (WTC). At Adelaide in 2014, on his captaincy debut, India nearly pulled off a record chase thanks to his 141, choosing to go for the win rather than play out a draw. Eventually losing by just 30 odd runs.
The same story repeated at The Oval in 2018, where India were set an improbable 464. They crumbled to 121-5, but KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant stitched a 204-run stand, keeping the belief alive until the very end. They lost, but they fought. This willingness to risk a loss in pursuit of a win became the Indian way.
Under Kohli, India’s playing XIs were built to take 20 wickets. That often meant playing five bowlers, sometimes even three pacers and two spinners, even in away Tests. The idea was simple: if you can’t bowl the opposition out twice, you can’t win. And win they did.
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Post-Kohli era: The all-rounder infusion
But things have changed since Virat Kohli’s retirement from Tests. In recent Tests, India’s team sheets have reflected a tilt towards batting depth over bowling penetration. Instead of going with five proper bowlers, they now play batting all-rounders like Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, and Shardul Thakur overseas. Ravindra Jadeja, once a bowling spearhead, is now seen as an all-rounder expected to bail the side out with the bat too.
As a result, India have struggled to take 20 wickets overseas, allowing matches to drift or conceding record chases including the Headingley Test.
While the inclusion of all-rounders does provide batting insurance, it comes at the cost of pure bowling firepower. This trade-off might work in home conditions, where spinners can exploit the surfaces, but it’s been far less effective in Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand. It now seems that the fearless approach has been replaced by caution, compromise, and containment slowly and steadily.
Are India headed in the right direction?
It’s still early days, and transition periods are always messy. But as India eye a new era under Shubman Gill, the philosophical shift is stark. Can India win consistently overseas without the ability to take 20 wickets emerged as the biggest question.
But one thing is certain, under Kohli, victories were chased, wickets were valued, and draws were never the default. And perhaps, that’s why fans began to take Test wins for granted.
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