The Kohli-Williams rivalry, India’s poor fielding, Dube’s mixed night: Second T20I talking points

India’s inability to post a match-winning total while batting first and West Indies’ brute-force approach to the shortest format were on full view in Thiruvananthapuram as the visitors levelled the series 1-1.

Here are the talking points from the second match of the three-match series:

Dube’s mixed night

For the second time on the night, Virat Kohli played with the heartstrings of the crowd at the Greenfield Stadium. First, after the loud cheers for Sanju Samson during the pre-match warm-ups when the local favourite had the gloves on for a bit, Kohli said India were fielding an unchanged XI at the toss.

Next up, after the wicket of KL Rahul in the powerplay, when the crowd noise starting reaching a crescendo after the initial disappointment died down quickly, in anticipation of Kohli’s arrival to the crease, he sent out Shivam Dube instead.

This was not in the script but as it turned out, the Mumbai all-rounder entertained the packed stands to the fullest on his way to a maiden international half century. Despite starting off in shaky fashion, where he attempted to slog every delivery, Dube found his hitting grove with a pull shot for six off Jason Holder and then hit three more big ones in one Kieron Pollard over.

The original idea was, however, for Dube to attack the spinners but that did not quite pan out for India with the youngster eventually succumbing to a rush of blood. Moments after getting a reprieve against Hayden Walsh Jr, Dube went for another slog and threw his wicket away.

And with the ball in hand, he had a night to forget. He became the first Indian to be called for the auto no-ball in his first over, and then bowled a “terrible delivery” (in Sunil Gavaskar’s words) in his second as he dug one in short and wide at Simmons which was put away for four. His two overs went for 18 runs at a time when Kohli could have used a breakthrough.

Kesrick Williams vs Virat Kohli

Part I: Virat Kohli had a few run-ins (at times literally) with the mercurial West Indies pacer in Hyderabad. Got provoked enough to play one of the best T20 knocks of his career, during the course of which he made produced the notebook celebration, to get one back against Williams for what happened in 2017 in Jamaica. Williams was left stunned.

Part II: Kesrick Williams read the pitch superbly and stuck to his strengths in Thirvananthapuram. With brilliant use of the cutters, Williams hardly gave anything in the hitting zone of the Indian batsmen. There were clever changes of pace through his spell and the ball to dismiss Kohli, just a tad over 121 kph. The celebration could either be seen as Williams telling himself that words don’t matter or the crowd to be quiet as their star batsman walked off: take your pick. He finished the night with a 113kph delivery to dismiss Jadeja and more shushing. The pantomime villain struck back. Riveting drama.

Part III: Coming soon, to television screens on December 11, from the home of Bollywood.

Battle of sixes

During the first T20I, commentator Harsha Bhogle brought up the point at the start of India’s run-chase: will the hosts be able to match the number of sixes hit by West Indies in the match? That was going to be crucial in overhauling the big target and thanks to Virat Kohli pulling a rabbit out of his hat, India got close to the visitors’ tally: 12 to 15.

But in Thiruvananthapuram, the combined power-hitting skills of the West Indies side was in full view again and proved decisive in the final outcome. India had cleared the rope just five times in their innings, with four of those coming from the bat of Dube and one by Rishabh Pant. In comparison, West Indies cleared the rope 12 times with all four batsmen who spent time in the middle hitting at least two sixes.

If ever pictures told you the story of a match, this compilation of sixes would be it:

Fielding

In the larger scheme of things, the defeat in Thiruvananthapuram will just be another addition to the list of matches India have lost while batting first in the shortest format. But the defeat, in isolation, could be attributed to the fielding by Kohli’s men...an area where India have arguably improved the most under his captaincy along with fast bowling.

India are no by means a bad fielding side (we all know that now) but they have just been fielding badly for a while now in this format. Rohit Sharma spoke about it twice during the Bangladesh series, and now Kohli has mentioned India being below average twice in this series.

Watch: Kohli takes a stunning catch on an otherwise abject day on the field for India

It would annoy Kohli no end especially because it’s one of those controllables he keeps talking about. At least five catches were dropped in the first match but it did not end up costing India but this time around, two missed chances offered by the openers in one Bhuvneshwar Kumar over in the powerplay, proved decisive.

“We had to get those 15 extra runs to defend, but look, if you field like that, then no total is big enough. We have been below par in the field in the last two games,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation. “When you drop two chances in a T20 game in one over, that’s going to cost you. If they lose two wickets in one over, the pressure’s on them. I think it’s a game of margins and we need to understand where we went wrong. It’s pretty evident. It’s there for everyone to see and for us to improve on. Fielding is something we need to be more brave about, and not worry about dropping catches.”

That worry was etched large on Washington’s face as he got ready to take the skier offered by Simmons when he was on six. While the floodlights may have played a role in Hyderabad, this chance was just a case of being nervous under pressure. And that is what the young allrounder and rest of the fielding unit needs to overcome if they have to find their groove in the series decider.