IND v AUS 2020: 'Virat Kohli is being hasty in his decisions' - Ashish Nehra points out flaws in Indian captain’s tactics
Former India left-arm-pacer Ashish Nehra is the latest to question India skipper Virat Kohli over his bowling tactics against Australia in the second ODI at Sydney on Sunday.
Virat Kohli gave only two overs to pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah in his first spell as India lost the game by 51 runs.
Nehra, who had earlier been part of the IPL franchise RCB, which is captained by Virat Kohli, failed to understand why the Indian captain did not utilize Jasprit Bumrah properly with the new ball.
A perplexed Nehra said in an interaction with Cricbuzz:
"In today’s (Sunday) game, Virat Kohli gave two overs to Mohammed Shami and then brought Navdeep Saini. He wanted Shami to bowl from the other end, that I understand, but then, why would he used Jasprit Bumrah for only two overs with the new ball?”
According to Ashish Nehra, Virat Kohli is making frequent changes and is being hasty in his decisions.
"I agree Virat Kohli is making frequent changes in bowling. He only had five bowling options. India used Mayank Agarwal and Hardik Pandya - it was a decision made on the ground. If things were going in India’s way, you would not have seen these two getting an over.
"Virat Kohli is being hasty in his decisions. In the previous game (first ODI) as well, after Kohli was dropped, it seemed like he is in a hurry. Kohli has chased 350 several times in his career, it is not a big deal for him. But it seemed like he was chasing 475, not 375.
He added:
"I believe Kohli is an impulsive captain. He is making too many changes in his bowling. And this is an area that he needs to take care of."
Gambhir had also criticized Virat Kohli’s captaincy
Before Ashish Nehra, another former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir had also raised question marks over Virat Kohli’s captaincy. Pointing out to the decision of giving Bumrah just two overs upfront, Gambhir pondered whether the Indian captain was still in T20 mode.
Gambhir said during ESPNCricinfo’s post-match show:
"I can’t understand the captaincy to be honest. We kept talking about how important is to take wickets upfront if we have to stop this kind of batting line-up and then you make your premier bowler bowl two overs. Normally, in a One Day game probably there are three spells of 4-3-3 overs. Or probably the maximum is four overs."
He added:
"But if you stop your premier fast bowler just by bowling two overs upfront with the new ball, I can’t understand that kind of captaincy. It is not T20 cricket.”
India gave away 389 runs bowling first at Sydney on Sunday. Despite bowling a maiden, Jasprit Bumrah ended up conceding 79 runs in his 10 overs. The others did not fare much better. The inexperienced Navdeep Saini went for 70 in his 7 while Mohammed Shami and Yuzvendra Chahal gave away 73 and 71 respectively in their nine overs.
India responded with 338, courtesy of half-centuries from Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, to go down by 51 runs and lose the ODI series 0-2 with one match to go.