Virat Kohli got everything he wanted but where is the World Cup?

[The Realist]

World Cup 2019: Virat Kohli got everything he needed. Pay hikes, a coach of his choice etc etc and yet when it came to winning the World Cup, Virat Kohli could not live up to expectations.

 

Virat Kohli likes to play ruthless cricket and he wants his men to show intent all the time. And to be fair to India and Virat Kohli, they were ruthless in the shorter formats despite obvious problems.

The gaping hole in the middle-order meant there the onus was always on Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. The top-3 delivered with mind-numbing consistency - in 2018, India won their first ever ODI series in South Africa before registering historic series victories in Australia and New Zealand.

Not surprisingly, India were touted as favourites for the 2019 World Cup. All the build-up after the Champions Trophy final defeat to Pakistan was aimed at excelling in the World Cup. A frantic search began to fill up the crucial Nos 4 and 5.

Experienced players were tried and discarded. Ajinkya Rahane did little wrong before he was cast aside. India's No.4 became a national debate. Who would bat in the middle-order? Just who? No one had the answers as the World Cup inched closer?

For 2 years, India continued to ignore their other problem. Their batsmen were clueless in overcast conditions. Dharamsala. Hamilton. Lord's. ODIs or Tests. Indian batsmen were all at sea. High-profile series wins papered over those weaknesses and the team management seemed happy to move on.

In the World Cup, India were challenged twice. They were in trouble against South Africa chasing a modest total - had it not been for Rohit Shamra, India would have been in deep trouble.

In the semi-final against New Zealand, India were once again undone by New Zealand's pacers. At 5 for 3, it was all but over before Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni took India close but it was not enough.

Virat Kohli had two opportunities to win major ICC tournaments in the early years of his captaincy. In the Champions Trophy final, he fell cheaply to Mohammad Amir and India lost. In the World Cup semi-final 2 years later, Kohli fell cheaply to Trent Boult. And India lost.

As captain and India's best batsman, Virat Kohli failed when it mattered most. But Kohli must take more blame. Under his watch, India were unable to solve the middle-order puzzle. While his captaincy was impressive in the 2019 World Cup, some of his calls over the years have been a little difficult to understand.

Ravi Shastri, after he took over as coach, said Virat Kohli was the boss.

Clearly, the captain had instilled certain ethics in the team. Fitness. Yo-yo tests. And yes, India won several series. But what's the use if all those efforts do not translate into success in a World Cup.

Virat Kohli was given everything he wanted. After Anil Kumble stepped down following a rift with the skipper, Kohli wanted Ravi Shastri. And he got it. Wives on tour. Kohli was granted his wish. Give the captain what he wants.

In fact last year, the BCCI gave India's cricket stars a major pay hike after negotiations with Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni. Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri had demanded better pay and their wish was granted.

Virat Kohli even struggled in the Indian Premier League. While Rohit Sharma has 4 titles for Mumbai Indians, Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore regularly finish aa the bottom. In the IPL, Kohli looks clueless in the face of opposition assault.

For India, Virat Kohli is yet to win a major trophy in limited-overs cricket. While Kohli rested, Rohit led India to triumph in the Nidahas Trophy and Asia Cup.

Look around those bilateral series wins in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and you realise Virat Kohli's return on investment as captain has been rather low. Well, he had the chance to win the Champions Trophy. That did not happen. And afer that, Kohli did not pay heed to the warning bells and India were once again left with broken hearts at the end of the World Cup.

https://www.indiatoday.in/sports/cricket-world-cup-2019/story/indian-cricket-team-captain-virat-kohli-world-cup-2019-ravi-shastri-wags-bcci-1566883-2019-07-11

Edited July 11, 2019 by The Realist

[Ankit_sharma03]

There has to be some control on the rage. Yes , he failed to win wc but doesnt mean he hasnt deilever . He won odi series in SA, AUS, NZ....won test series in Aus. This expectation that he had to had to win WC and nothing less is wrong. In LOI any team can have off day so that expectation has curb down.

 

About kumble sacking well he did right coz 10 players were not happy with him and players matter more then coaches. 

 

Yes blunders throughout the tenure has been made but it has happened under everyone tenure and same will be in future.

 

What wrong did he ask in player hike fee or coach of his choice. Didnt ganguly ask for chappell ??

[zen]

2 minutes ago, The Realist said:

The gaping hole in the middle-order meant there the onus was always on Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. The top-3 delivered with mind-numbing consistency - in 2018, India won their first ever ODI series in South Africa before registering historic series victories in Australia and New Zealand.

In India, people appear to keep talking about the "hole" in the MO. But the pertinent question to ask is why there is that gaping hole (or whatever it is assumed to be) in the middle order. The team appears to have become a vessel to promote vested interests of the experienced and established players. 

 

It is simple math. To stay in the team for longer, you need performances. To show performances, you need a relatively high average. To get a relatively high average, you have to bat in optimal slots, which is opening, where you get to face the most balls in mostly batting friendly conditions. To secure a good average, you have to minimize risks. To minimize risks, you have to play at a low SR. 

 

When you are playing at a slow SR, you need others to bail you out as you are not always going to make up for your slow start. The others being drafted are expected to go from ball one or play a big inning when the big sharks get out early when the conditions are difficult to bat. The recruits are not provided with opportunities to either develop their game by batting them higher in a rotation plan nor given a consistent run to learn to perform in their position. Usually, they are on the knife's edge so if they cannot bail the top guys out when they fail, they are replaced quickly. Youngsters need more time to develop so experienced ones are preferred, who too struggle to get going quickly in absence of either a long run or opportunities to bat higher to develop the game. 

 

Additionally, the burning MO issues help to deflect the blame. As the undercooked players are likely to fail relatively more. In the past 2-3 years, how many times have we seen a new player tried as an opener. The usual suspect always open. Even Kohli takes breaks at times but not the openers, who guard their position sacredly. 

 

Unfortunately, India has a culture where fans even create temples for their heroes. The fans do not mind too if Ind does badly as long as their favorite players are in the black.   

 

 

[RAZPOR]

And now he has the guts to get online and tell fans to move on,what a pathetic excuse of a captain

[maniac]

4 minutes ago, zen said:

In India, people appear to keep talking about the "hole" in the MO. But the pertinent question to ask is why there is that gaping hole (or whatever it is assumed to be) in the middle order. The team appears to have become a vessel to promote vested interests of the experienced and established players. 

 

It is simple math. To stay in the team for longer, you need performances. To show performances, you need a relatively high average. To get a relatively high average, you have to bat in optimal slots, which is opening, where you get to face the most balls in mostly batting friendly conditions. To secure a good average, you have to minimize risks. To minimize risks, you have to play at a low SR. 

 

When you are playing at a slow SR, you need others to bail you out as you are not always going to make up for your slow start. The others being drafted are expected to go from ball one or play a big inning when the big sharks get out early when the conditions are difficult to bat. The recruits are not provided with opportunities to either develop their game by batting them higher in a rotation plan nor given a consistent run to learn to perform in their position. Usually, they are on the knife's edge so if they cannot bail the top guys out when they fail, they are replaced quickly. Youngsters need more time to develop so experienced ones are preferred, who too struggle to get going quickly in absence of either a long run or opportunities to bat higher to develop the game. 

 

Additionally, the burning MO issues help to deflect the blame. As the undercooked players are likely to fail relatively more. In the past 2-3 years, how many times have we seen a new player tried as an opener. The usual suspect always open. Even Kohli takes breaks at times but not the openers, who guard their position sacredly. 

 

Unfortunately, India has a culture where fans even create temples for their heroes. The fans do not mind too if Ind does badly as long as their favorite players are in the black.   

 

 

Your argument again has no legs. Roy Bairstow have been the fixed pair for England for a while followed by Root. if they fail, it has never stopped Stokes,Butler Morgan

 

Finch and Warner ( apart from the ban) have been opening almost the same time as Rohit-Dhawan. When this pair was broken due to circumstances is when Aussies struggled the most. They are heavily reliant on Top 3 too.

 

Nzl strategy is always their middle order Williamson- Taylor to get them to a decent total for their bowling to defend. They would kill for someone like Rahul leave alone Rohit-Dhawan

 

WI have dynamic youngsters like Pooran-Hope-Hetmeyer but still they struggle because Gayle is hit or miss and they don't have another opener. If Gayle comes off they win 9 out of 10 times.

 

SA too after Dekock-Amla their middle order sucks.

 

Pak's best players are in the middle order as well Azam and Sohail. Imam is a good hand. 

 

We consider ourselves to be leagues better than all teams maybe say England, so it is unacceptable that despite having all the luxuries in the world,we can't have a dynamic middle order because our top 3 are hands down the best in the world. You have an infected leg your suggestion seems to chop off the head which is fine

 

[Stuge]

11 minutes ago, RAZPOR said:

And now he has the guts to get online and tell fans to move on,what a pathetic excuse of a captain

Fans will move from cricket - Choker team

[zen]

6 minutes ago, maniac said:

We consider ourselves to be leagues better than all teams maybe say England, so it is unacceptable that despite having all the luxuries in the world,we can't have a dynamic middle order because our top 3 are hands down the best in the world. You have an infected leg your suggestion seems to chop off the head which is fine

If the likes of Rohit are so good, let play them in MO to solve the problem. I am sure he would raise his hand up to help Ind  

Edited July 11, 2019 by zen

[maniac]

Just now, zen said:

If the likes of Rohit are so good, let play them in MO to solve the problem. I am sure he would raise his hand up to help Ind  

again why would you change the only thing working for you. do you want Bumrah to bowl all overs from 20-40 if that is identified as India's problem area for India's bowling. accentuate the strengths and work on weakness, basic funda of anything and everything

[zen]

4 minutes ago, maniac said:

again why would you change the only thing working for you. do you want Bumrah to bowl all overs from 20-40 if that is identified as India's problem area for India's bowling. accentuate the strengths and work on weakness, basic funda of anything and everything

A "good" batsman should be able to take on challenges to help the team. And Ind has batsmen who can do similar or better job opening 

[Vilander]

Kohli is a peerless batsman, he will break every record there is for batting. But the pain that he has to probably carry is not winning a WC as a captain. 

[beetle]

5 hours ago, The Realist said:

Experienced players were tried and discarded. Ajinkya Rahane did little wrong before he was cast aside

[Number]

Too much player power never works.

Our selection committee is a joke.

It contains players who played 1 to 4-5 international matches.

Earlier chief selectors could stand upto the captain but Dhoni getting Amarnath sacked set the precedence for captain to have it all.

 

[Norman]

 

8 hours ago, The Realist said:

Virat Kohli likes to play ruthless cricket

 

Stopped reading after this part. 

Edited July 12, 2019 by Norman

[Stan AF]

2 hours ago, Vilander said:

Kohli is a peerless batsman, he will break every record there is for batting. But the pain that he has to probably carry is not winning a WC as a captain. 

Not necessarily. He's not even above our own Dhawan and Rohit. He is still below the ranks of Smith and Kane. He will go below  Root also if Root manages to hit a WC winning 100 this sunday.

Edited July 12, 2019 by Stan AF

[nevada]

If he has any shame he should resign the captaincy. When you act like a brat with an "I know what to do, just zip it and do like I tell you to do" attitude, you have to deliver the results or else be man enough to admit you screwed up and step aside. Kohli is a shameless wimp who makes excuses and brags about how well his team did despite screwing up royally. Remember his pathetic PR tweet after losing the CT final horribly? Or his shameless claim of the scoreline not reflecting how well his team played in the test series against England? The guy has no shame, no honesty whatsoever.  A semi final loss is not the end of the world but the choking and utter capitulation is unacceptable. Indian cricket fans are now experiencing the pain of long suffering RCB fans. He got all he wanted at RCB - the world's best players at his command and still screwed up year after year. Forget the title, since the last couple of years RCB is at the bottom of the points table. Kohli is toxic and is not done yet with his destruction. There are any more tantrums to come, his commands will be followed by the BCCI and he will keep screwing up royally.

[jf1gp_1]

Lovely. ICF has progressed from Dhoni bashing to virat bashing which will continue till next world cup. No one seemed to have problem with virat captaincy when we won test series in Australia. 

[straighttalk]

7 hours ago, maniac said:

Your argument again has no legs. Roy Bairstow have been the fixed pair for England for a while followed by Root. if they fail, it has never stopped Stokes,Butler Morgan

 

Finch and Warner ( apart from the ban) have been opening almost the same time as Rohit-Dhawan. When this pair was broken due to circumstances is when Aussies struggled the most. They are heavily reliant on Top 3 too.

 

Nzl strategy is always their middle order Williamson- Taylor to get them to a decent total for their bowling to defend. They would kill for someone like Rahul leave alone Rohit-Dhawan

 

WI have dynamic youngsters like Pooran-Hope-Hetmeyer but still they struggle because Gayle is hit or miss and they don't have another opener. If Gayle comes off they win 9 out of 10 times.

 

SA too after Dekock-Amla their middle order sucks.

 

Pak's best players are in the middle order as well Azam and Sohail. Imam is a good hand. 

 

We consider ourselves to be leagues better than all teams maybe say England, so it is unacceptable that despite having all the luxuries in the world,we can't have a dynamic middle order because our top 3 are hands down the best in the world. You have an infected leg your suggestion seems to chop off the head which is fine

 

And you missed his point. All the other openers dont do tuk tuk.. they go gun blazing and lose their wickets after setting a high run rate.. their approach is high risk high reward. But it allows the middle order game time and opens them to different situations.

 

our middle order get no game time on pattas and are only asked to do herculean stuff when the top order capitulates at the slightest sign of adversity. They dont on flat pitches. Then they have a duty to face atleast 25 overs in swinging condition and in knockouts

[nevada]

The man child's wish list keeps on growing. Never mind that he hasn't even reached the IPL play offs in years.

 

Virat Kohli feels IPL-style playoffs instead of semi-finals can be an option

Edited July 12, 2019 by nevada

[Singh bling]

48 minutes ago, jf1gp_1 said:

Lovely. ICF has progressed from Dhoni bashing to virat bashing which will continue till next world cup. No one seemed to have problem with virat captaincy when we won test series in Australia. 

His captaincy in test is O.K. But in ODI's its terrible . When your captain can't even lift a kitply cup then you have to think

 

And most of Virat's achievements come when he faces weak opposition. The minute opposition is strong and have an edge he just surrender.

[Lannister]

50 minutes ago, jf1gp_1 said:

Lovely. ICF has progressed from Dhoni bashing to virat bashing which will continue till next world cup. No one seemed to have problem with virat captaincy when we won test series in Australia. 

So you want us to worship Kohli for reaching Semis. He can atleast step down from limited overs captaincy.