Virat Kohli is a great cricketer. Perhaps he will turn out to be among the finest India has ever produced. But is he as good a captain? On the basis of this performance, not many will agree.
Sunrisers Hyderabad came out chasing a tricky target of 167. One of those middling totals. Get a quick start and you win the game. Lose a couple of wickets and the fielding team swarms all over you, like a hive of bees.
The Bangalore attack does not possess high quality in its ranks. That is another complaint to be made about Kohli and Bangalore’s team-selection. Their batting may be explosive, but their bowling is, frankly, extremely weak. With Mitchell Starc, it looks sub-standard.
Kohli’s big test
Warner and Dhawan, two big hitters out in the middle. Looking to go big. Score the first few runs quickly. They would fancy their chances against this RCB attack. Could Kohli think innovatively and pull something out?
No, he couldn’t.
16/0 after the first over. 36/0 after the second over. 65/0 at the end of the first six. Warner created all sorts of mayhem. The game was as good as over in the first few overs. Kohli had no answer. He kept on bowling his medium pacers despite them being hammered all over the park.
Sean Abbott was hammered for 16 in an over. Harshal Patel, for 20. To even a layman cricket watcher, it was quite obvious: Dhawan and Warner were thriving on the slow medium pace offerings that the RCB bowlers were dishing out.
That begged the question: why was Kohli not introducing spin? Just a few days ago, Gautam Gambhir had introduced Narine in the second match over of Kolkata Knight Riders’ match against RCB. KKR might have gone on to lose, but Narine justified Gambhir’s strategy of stifling the opposition early, giving away only 5 runs in that over.
Where were your spinners, Virat?
Nor that Kohli was bereft of spin options. The talented Yuzvendra Chahal, a leg-spinner who has already impressed IPL watchers, is in his team. Last season, he picked up 12 wickets at an average of around 30. In the last match too he had bowled well, notably picking up the all-important wicket of Gambhir.
Chahal was called on to bowl only in the sevent over. By then, RCB seemed deflated. For as aggressive a captain as Kohli, everything was too quiet. The television camera panned to Sammy, De Villiers and Kohli, all captains, all looking increasingly grim. The usually animated Kohli was silent – maybe too silent. The team’s energy levels were at an all-time low.
Just to prove his point, Chahal made an immediate impact on the game, trapping Warner LBW with his fifth delivery. With an intelligent mix of pace and variation, he had Kane Williamson out next over. Chahal celebrated but it had come a bit too late. It must have left the RCB fan wondering – why hadn’t he been brought on earlier?
Was Kohli too defensive? Did he not trust Chahal to bowl within the mandatory powerplay at Warner and Dhawan? In an era where McCullum and Clarke’s aggressive captaincy is lauded, Kohli’s captaincy looked disappointingly reactionary and defensive.
Earlier...
RCB’s first innings resembled a Diwali evening interrupted by rain just when the fireworks had started. Every time, Bangalore looked to get into top gear, Sunrisers pulled them back.
It started with Gayle. He stroked three fours and a massive six before Hyderabad did what KKR couldn’t in the last match – take a good smart catch to see the back of the burly Jamaican. Next came Kohli – after an impressive looking 41, he played a rash shot to get dismissed off Bopara.
The end came a bit too abruptly for the boys from Bengaluru. Boult steamed in to bowl the eighteenth over and prised out three wickets to destroy whatever little momentum RCB had regained. Bhuvaneshwar bowled a tidy last over picking up the remaining wickets – from 148/5, Bangalore lost 5 wickets in 11 balls to finish at 165. It was never going to be enough and Kohli’s bowling choices never really helped matters.
With one win and a loss, the situation for Bangalore might not look very bleak yet. But if Kohli is honest with himself, he will admit that the team selection needs to be reexamined. On slow Indian pitches, an attack full of innocuous medium-pacers may not be effective. It’s time he got more spinners into the mix. And maybe try and be a little more proactive as captain?
Sunrisers Hyderabad came out chasing a tricky target of 167. One of those middling totals. Get a quick start and you win the game. Lose a couple of wickets and the fielding team swarms all over you, like a hive of bees.
The Bangalore attack does not possess high quality in its ranks. That is another complaint to be made about Kohli and Bangalore’s team-selection. Their batting may be explosive, but their bowling is, frankly, extremely weak. With Mitchell Starc, it looks sub-standard.
Kohli’s big test
Warner and Dhawan, two big hitters out in the middle. Looking to go big. Score the first few runs quickly. They would fancy their chances against this RCB attack. Could Kohli think innovatively and pull something out?
No, he couldn’t.
16/0 after the first over. 36/0 after the second over. 65/0 at the end of the first six. Warner created all sorts of mayhem. The game was as good as over in the first few overs. Kohli had no answer. He kept on bowling his medium pacers despite them being hammered all over the park.
Sean Abbott was hammered for 16 in an over. Harshal Patel, for 20. To even a layman cricket watcher, it was quite obvious: Dhawan and Warner were thriving on the slow medium pace offerings that the RCB bowlers were dishing out.
That begged the question: why was Kohli not introducing spin? Just a few days ago, Gautam Gambhir had introduced Narine in the second match over of Kolkata Knight Riders’ match against RCB. KKR might have gone on to lose, but Narine justified Gambhir’s strategy of stifling the opposition early, giving away only 5 runs in that over.
Where were your spinners, Virat?
Nor that Kohli was bereft of spin options. The talented Yuzvendra Chahal, a leg-spinner who has already impressed IPL watchers, is in his team. Last season, he picked up 12 wickets at an average of around 30. In the last match too he had bowled well, notably picking up the all-important wicket of Gambhir.
Chahal was called on to bowl only in the sevent over. By then, RCB seemed deflated. For as aggressive a captain as Kohli, everything was too quiet. The television camera panned to Sammy, De Villiers and Kohli, all captains, all looking increasingly grim. The usually animated Kohli was silent – maybe too silent. The team’s energy levels were at an all-time low.
Just to prove his point, Chahal made an immediate impact on the game, trapping Warner LBW with his fifth delivery. With an intelligent mix of pace and variation, he had Kane Williamson out next over. Chahal celebrated but it had come a bit too late. It must have left the RCB fan wondering – why hadn’t he been brought on earlier?
Was Kohli too defensive? Did he not trust Chahal to bowl within the mandatory powerplay at Warner and Dhawan? In an era where McCullum and Clarke’s aggressive captaincy is lauded, Kohli’s captaincy looked disappointingly reactionary and defensive.
Earlier...
RCB’s first innings resembled a Diwali evening interrupted by rain just when the fireworks had started. Every time, Bangalore looked to get into top gear, Sunrisers pulled them back.
It started with Gayle. He stroked three fours and a massive six before Hyderabad did what KKR couldn’t in the last match – take a good smart catch to see the back of the burly Jamaican. Next came Kohli – after an impressive looking 41, he played a rash shot to get dismissed off Bopara.
The end came a bit too abruptly for the boys from Bengaluru. Boult steamed in to bowl the eighteenth over and prised out three wickets to destroy whatever little momentum RCB had regained. Bhuvaneshwar bowled a tidy last over picking up the remaining wickets – from 148/5, Bangalore lost 5 wickets in 11 balls to finish at 165. It was never going to be enough and Kohli’s bowling choices never really helped matters.
With one win and a loss, the situation for Bangalore might not look very bleak yet. But if Kohli is honest with himself, he will admit that the team selection needs to be reexamined. On slow Indian pitches, an attack full of innocuous medium-pacers may not be effective. It’s time he got more spinners into the mix. And maybe try and be a little more proactive as captain?
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