Kohli should bat at 3

[Ultimate_Game]

Kohli's game is tailor made for number 3. he's not the guy who can go from ball one and exploit the PP overs. His game is more suited to taking his time to settle in and then take apart the bowling. This is what he does while chasing and how he bats in odis. While opening in PP Kohli is forced to be aggressive from the start trying to exploit the PP overs but Kohli's wicket is too important for such a role.

 

IMO Kohli should bat at 3 and for Mumbai Rohit should start opening. CT is round the corner and it's time the players start batting at the position which suits them best.

[Straight Drive]

He scored 4 tons last IPL. Any idea which position he batted in those 4 innings.

[Ultimate_Game]

4 minutes ago, Straight Drive said:

He scored 4 tons last IPL. Any idea which position he batted in those 4 innings.

 

Last year he was batting at a different level altogether - mother of any golden run we've seen. But it was bound to end. Look at Kohli's batting in most of his innings when he has been successful. Let's take his typical odi knocks. Kohli comes in and scores his first 20 runs in around 25-30 deliveries, gets to his 50 in around 50-55 deliveries and then goes into a different mode. 

 

In T20s while opening he's forced to hit over the shot and hit boundaries right from the beginning. His game is more about taking 1s and 2s while getting his eye in and hitting an occasional 4. Once he gets his eye in he cashes in. Last year's WT20 he batted the same way and last year's IPL was continuation of the same form.

 

I will say it again. Kohli is not the guy to play his shots and exploit PP overs. He needs a bit of time to get in, keep the scoreboard moving by rotating the strike and occasional boundaries and making hay when he's well set. That's what has worked for him over the years.

[Straight Drive]

9 minutes ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

Last year he was batting at a different level altogether - mother of any golden run we've seen. But it was bound to end. Look at Kohli's batting in most of his innings when he has been successful. Let's take his typical odi knocks. Kohli comes in and scores his first 20 runs in around 25-30 deliveries, gets to his 50 in around 50-55 deliveries and then goes into a different mode. 

 

In T20s while opening he's forced to hit over the shot and hit boundaries right from the beginning. His game is more about taking 1s and 2s while getting his eye in and hitting an occasional 4. Once he gets his eye in he cashes in. Last year's WT20 he batted the same way and last year's IPL was continuation of the same form.

 

I will say it again. Kohli is not the guy to play his shots and exploit PP overs. He needs a bit of time to get in, keep the scoreboard moving by rotating the strike and occasional boundaries and making hay when he's well set. That's what has worked for him over the years.

Still clueless here. Did he score those 4 tons as opener or 1 down .

[Ultimate_Game]

3 minutes ago, Straight Drive said:

Still clueless here. Did he score those 4 tons as opener or 1 down .

Read the post to figure it out.

[Straight Drive]

All his 4 tons last year were as opener !! Should continue to open the innings.  

[Ultimate_Game]

5 minutes ago, Straight Drive said:

All his 4 tons last year were as opener !! Should continue to open the innings.  

As long as he doesn't open in T20Is for India he can do whatever he wants in IPL  
 

[philcric]

Been calling for it right from the start of this IPL season.

 

There are couple of differences from the last season. He was in much more sublime form then. And he had the cushion of an in-form ABDV at #3 and much better middle order. KL Rahul was in terrific form and the likes of Sarfraz, Mandep and Sachin Baby were more than decent. So, he had the freedom and the form last year.

 

Irrespective of whether he CAN play well at #1 or not, looking at the team composition and their form and the results, he should have batted at #3 and ABD at #4 or #5. 

[Ultimate_Game]

Just now, philcric said:

Been calling for it right from the start of this IPL season.

 

There are couple of differences from the last season. He was in much more sublime form then. And he had the cushion of an in-form ABDV at #3 and much better middle order. KL Rahul was in terrific form and the likes of Sarfraz, Mandep and Sachin Baby were more than decent. So, he had the freedom and the form last year.

 

Irrespective of whether he CAN play well at #1 or not, looking at the team composition and their form and the results, he should have batted at #3 and ABD at #4 or #5. 

Last season was an aberration where he carried his out of this world form from WT20 into the IPL. But anyone who has seen Kohli play over the years knows his approach to batting doesn't fit the T20 opening role.

 

The best T20 openers are biffers like Gayle or McCullum or Warner who take off from ball one. Kohli's game is not built on similar lines. Kohli is more of a calculating assassin if you will. He will come in, take a few balls to settle in, keep the strike rotating and rely on 1s and 2s with occasional boundary. Once he's set and has sized up the bowling and conditions, that's when the real acceleration comes. His WT20 knock against Aus was the perfect example of the same.

 

As an opener kohli is forced to go for his shots too early and resulting in his dismissals for 20 odd. Kohli's too valuable a batsman to be wasted like that. There are batsmen like Tripathi or Narine etc. who should play that role. Not kohli whose role is to be the backbone of the batting lineup and bat for as long as possible.

[philcric]

58 minutes ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

Last year he was batting at a different level altogether - mother of any golden run we've seen. But it was bound to end. Look at Kohli's batting in most of his innings when he has been successful. Let's take his typical odi knocks. Kohli comes in and scores his first 20 runs in around 25-30 deliveries, gets to his 50 in around 50-55 deliveries and then goes into a different mode. 

 

In T20s while opening he's forced to hit over the shot and hit boundaries right from the beginning. His game is more about taking 1s and 2s while getting his eye in and hitting an occasional 4. Once he gets his eye in he cashes in. Last year's WT20 he batted the same way and last year's IPL was continuation of the same form.

 

I will say it again. Kohli is not the guy to play his shots and exploit PP overs. He needs a bit of time to get in, keep the scoreboard moving by rotating the strike and occasional boundaries and making hay when he's well set. That's what has worked for him over the years.

Spot on. Also, it's easier for lesser/younger players to play at the top with all wickets in tact and very good players to follow. It lets them play freely without too much burden on them. Case in point ... Tripathi, Ishan Kishen and even Parthiv to an extent this season.

 

If you have good batters from #1 to #7, yes it makes perfect sense to send your best players up front. But if you have only 3 good batters out of 7, it's better to spread them around or even have all of them in the middle order because more often than not, the middle order gets to play the tougher part of the innings esp. in chases.

 

[philcric]

5 minutes ago, Ultimate_Game said:

Last season was an aberration where he carried his out of this world form from WT20 into the IPL. But anyone who has seen Kohli play over the years knows his approach to batting doesn't fit the T20 opening role.

 

The best T20 openers are biffers like Gayle or McCullum or Warner who take off from ball one. Kohli's game is not built on similar lines. Kohli is more of a calculating assassin if you will. He will come in, take a few balls to settle in, keep the strike rotating and rely on 1s and 2s with occasional boundary. Once he's set and has sized up the bowling and conditions, that's when the real acceleration comes. His WT20 knock against Aus was the perfect example of the same.

 

As an opener kohli is forced to go for his shots too early and resulting in his dismissals for 20 odd. Kohli's too valuable a batsman to be wasted like that. There are batsmen like Tripathi or Narine etc. who should play that role. Not kohli whose role is to be the backbone of the batting lineup and bat for as long as possible.

Totally agree.

 

Irrespective of the numbers, some batsmen look perfect for #3 but seem out of place opening the innings. Ex. Ponting, Lara, Kohli.

[Ultimate_Game]

1 minute ago, philcric said:

Totally agree.

 

Irrespective of the numbers, some batsmen look perfect for #3 but seem out of place opening the innings. Ex. Ponting, Lara, Kohli.

Couldn't agree more. Hope RCB and Kohli see the role doesn't fit him and maybe get couple of biffers at the top of the order. Also praying Kohli doesn't open for India the way he did in T20s in the recent Ind-Eng series. Kohli is suited to bat at 3 and shepherd the innings or the chase and not meant to sacrifice his wkt at the top of the order going for a few quick runs. We can always have likes of Pant play that role.

[Cricketics]

Your choice of askinf Sharma to Open the battinf for Mumbai and Kohli to bat at 3 for RCB could be a valid point but your explanation to make Kohli bat at 3 and that Rohit should open for Mumbai is extremely wrong.

 

You want them to get ready for India for CT, that is unprofessional since currently they are playing in IPL for their franchises and playing for India should be least of their concerns. This is not about Indian team right now and they should think it like a professional and bat what their IPl team is required to do and not because they have to play for India next month that they should change their batting order.

 

 

 

[Ultimate_Game]

11 minutes ago, Cricketics said:

Your choice of askinf Sharma to Open the battinf for Mumbai and Kohli to bat at 3 for RCB could be a valid point but your explanation to make Kohli bat at 3 and that Rohit should open for Mumbai is extremely wrong.

 

You want them to get ready for India for CT, that is unprofessional since currently they are playing in IPL for their franchises and playing for India should be least of their concerns. This is not about Indian team right now and they should think it like a professional and bat what their IPl team is required to do and not because they have to play for India next month that they should change their batting order.

 

 

 

No not really. Leaving aside the CT part, Kohli and Rohit's best performances have come when they batted at 3 and as an opener. i simply want them to play to their strengths for their respective teams. Take the case of Rohit first. He became a different player once he started opening and is definitely a better opener than a middle order batsman. Plus Mumbai is playing Buttler as an opener whose strength is coming in later and teeing off. Surely Rohit opening and Buttler coming down seems logical, isn't it?  

 

As for Kohli, I've already mentioned the reason for him to come in at 3. The guy's not a blind slogger who should be used to maximize power play overs. His game is not similar to likes of Gayle, McCullum, Warner or Sehwag. Kohli can't start hammering the bowling around from ball one which is needed as an opener in T20s so why wate him there? IMO both Kohli and Rohit are playing out of position. RCB isn't able to bear the repercussion of this poor move while Mumbai has picked up the slack thanks to Rana and Pandya bros performing well.

[Cricketics]

2 hours ago, Ultimate_Game said:

10 minutes ago, Ultimate_Game said:

No not really. Leaving aside the CT part, Kohli and Rohit's best performances have come when they batted at 3 and as an opener. i simply want them to play to their strengths for their respective teams. Take the case of Rohit first. He became a different player once he started opening and is definitely a better opener than a middle order batsman. Plus Mumbai is playing Buttler as an opener whose strength is coming in later and teeing off. Surely Rohit opening and Buttler coming down seems logical, isn't it?  

 

 

Like I have said I was quoting your part where you said they should play at those positions since CT is around the corner.

 

 

Here, was quoting this part of yours

 

"CT is round the corner and it's time the players start batting at the position which suits them best."

[Ultimate_Game]

1 minute ago, Cricketics said:

 

Like I have said I was quoting your part where you said they should play at those positions since CT is around the corner.

 

 

Here, was quoting this part of yours

 

"CT is round the corner and it's time the players start batting at the position which suits them best."

That was an additional, though tangential, benefit of the decision. Kohli falling for 20s simply doesn't make sense. It may be ok for Pappu Patel but not for Kohli and he has to start batting at 3 and shepherd the batting the way he has shown in the past.