Yesterday, the Royal Challengers Bangalore flexed their muscle and outplayed Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2020. RCB skipper Virat Kohli was superb as his every bowling change turned out to be a masterstroke. Even Gautam Gambhir who has often scrutinised Kohli’s captaincy was pleasantly surprised with his decisions.
Kohli felt that Mohammed Siraj would be a better bet with the new ball against KKR. Kohli who usually gives the ball to Washington Sundar in the powerplay decided against it and trusted Siraj. This proved to be a match-winning move as Siraj rocked the top order of KKR early in the match.
The fast bowler seemed unplayable with the new ball as he swung the ball both ways. Mohammed Siraj gave 3 major blows to KKR and dismissed Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi and Tom Banton. After his sensational spell, KKR could never recover and they only posted a total of mere 84 runs after 20 overs.
Virat Kohli’s Captaincy Surprises Gautam Gambhir
Meanwhile, Gambhir who was doing Hindi commentary during the match and was impressed with all the tactics of skipper Virat Kohli. Also, when Kohli gave the third over to Navdeep Saini Gambhir questioned this strange move of Kohli after Chris Morris had bowled a brilliant over.
However, Virar Kohli’s move yet again paid dividend as Saini took the important wicket of Shubman Gill.
“The brilliant captaincy that Virat Kohli had shown by giving the new ball to Mohammed Siraj, the positive captaincy and a fine move that paid off but this move surprises you”, Gambhir was heard as saying during live commentary.
“I don’t get the reason behind giving the ball to a new bowler to bowl the third over after Chris Morris’ first over,” he has said after Saini was asked to bowl the third over.
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RCB Now Second In The IPL 2020 Table
After a thumping win, Virat Kohli in the post-match presentation pointed out that giving the new ball to Siraj wasn’t planned and it was a last-minute decision. Kohli also looked pleased about losing the toss as he would have also batted first which could have been a blunder.
Furthermore, with the win against KKR Kohli’s men are now at the second position in IPL 2020 table. Another win will almost guarantee RCB a place in the playoffs which they haven’t qualified since 2016.
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