Kohli is cool, clever and thoughtful

I don't know Virat Kohli but he looks as if he might be a serious, ambitious, thinking cricketer with a big future in Test cricket.

A batsman to be encouraged to the limit of his ability as India searches out the next generation of run-scorers to replace those who have let her down so badly in Australia this last few months.

Gautam Gambhir has fallen victim to the short ball too often; Virender Sehwag is the constant victim of his own impetuosity, a young man's treasure trove but an older batsman's route to disaster. Perhaps Rahul Dravid left his form in England where he was magnificent; Sachin Tendulkar has a worthwhile, unselfish target but it has concentrated his mind too acutely; V.V.S. Laxman is still very, very special but clearly on his last legs.

Right coach

Kohli cannot replace them all and he needs the right coach to offer advice and the way to judge when to take a mighty swipe, like those he offered near his Adelaide century, and in no time he can be batting No. 3 and maybe, further ahead, leading the team through the gates and on to the field.

I liked what he showed us at Adelaide. He is cool and clever, thoughtful and balanced in his judgement, goes forward and back with equal ease and reserves his big shots for the bowler's worst deliveries.

Has future

He has a future, no doubt about that and if, as the rumour mongers have it, M.S. Dhoni will not be with us too much longer and the young 'keeper Saha looks a likely lad.

All that remains to be seen at this stage in his career for Kohli is the light at the end of the pathway to the batting crease and he must be treasured, must be helped so that he does not spend too much time at Twenty20. If Tendulkar can be persuaded to stick around for a few more years and offer help to this young man there is a smoother road ahead for India, especially under the expert guidance of Duncan Fletcher.

Poor Fletch. He has had a battering in the two long series he has been in charge of India. It can be a confusing country for a foreigner and sometimes in these last few weeks he has looked bewildered.

He will keep his thoughts to himself but, remember, it was a long time before he got England ready for the tough trek to the top and it will be just as long before India reaches the summit it achieved so briefly.

Openers

From somewhere in the vastness of the sumptuous sub-continent it needs two opening batsmen, a No. 3 who can bat for days, and maybe a dasher to take over from V.V.S., whose departure will cause as much sadness as the farewell from Tendulkar.

There is no need for Tendulkar to cause an increase in the sales of silk or paper handkerchieves just yet.

Perhaps like Jack Hobbs he will bat in Tests long into his 40s; he always seems to indicate he has longevity in his mind whenever the subject of retirement comes up.

So there is no hurry for that 100th international century. It will come in its own good time.

Instead he should think of his own future when bats and pads, gloves and chest protectors no longer form a major part of his life.

I hope the BCCI will keep him from the TV commentary box where he will be wasted and instead immediately make him chairman of selectors where his experience will be invaluable and where he can lead the search for his own successor.