Yesterday was an unforgettable day for Virat Kohli both as a batsman and more importantly as skipper. In the match against KXIP, the RCB skipper made surprising moves, especially during death overs.
Kohli finished 3 overs of his best fast bowler, Navdeep Saini, in the 13th over itself and just left him with one over at the death. In the end, RCB gave away a whopping 74 runs in the last 4 overs and 49 in the last 2 which completely changed the momentum of the match in favour of KXIP.
Sunil Gavaskar Questions Virat Kohli’s Tactics
Following Kohli’s ordinary captaincy ace commentator Sunil Gavaskar question his tactics in the last few overs of KXIP’s innings. Shivam Dubey and Dale Steyn were below par in the last overs as a rampant KL Rahul took full advantage of their poor bowling.
“You got to question Virat Kohli’s tactics in the last 4 overs. 74 runs in the last 4 overs, you saw who the bowlers were, you wouldn’t be too surprised. I thought the last 4 overs would go for maybe 50 runs but they went for 74 runs. That’s too much”, Gavaskar said.
Meanwhile, Kohli also dropped two absolute sitters (catches) of KL Rahul and Gavaskar believes that was playing in the mind of RCB’s skipper during the crunch overs.
“Well, it certainly seems to be the case as far as his tactics were concerned in the last 4 overs because he just dropped KL Rahul in the 70s and the 80s and that may have stayed on his mind,” Gavaskar added.
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Moreover, Kohli in the chase could only score 1 run from 5 balls. He top-edged a delivery from Sheldon Cottrell which he tried to pull very early on when he was batting. Kohli after the loss admitted that a chase of around 180-190 would have given his side more chances to win.
Gavaskar too feels that RCB lost the match in the last 4 overs of KXIP’s winnings. If their bowlers had restricted them to around 185 runs mark things could have been different.
“So when it came to the last 4 overs, he wasn’t sure who should be bowling them. You don’t want to go for 49 runs in the last 2 overs. That’s a big difference. At the end of the day, they almost lost by 100 runs, that’s another matter. If it had been a matter of chasing 185-190, it would have been a completely different situation. But there you are, in cricket, that’s what happens’, Gavaskar concluded.
Also Read: Sunil Gavaskar Backs KL Rahul To Take India’s Leadership in future
