Kohli's left field calls that went India's way

[sensible-indian]

10 minutes ago, mancalledsting said:

yaar, if we sent a third of the first XI out early, it would only be of benefit if we had practice games. Playing warm up games without your first XI, you run the risk of losing to domestic South African teams and destroying confidence/reputation of Indian cricket. 

Why a third of first xi? All the test players except Kohli should have been flown.

 

Loi leg of SL series started on 10 Dec. First test in SA started on Jan 5.

Edited January 29, 2018 by sensible-indian

[mancalledsting]

5 minutes ago, sensible-indian said:

Why a third of first xi? All the test players except Kohli should have been flown.

 

Loi leg of SL series started on 10 Dec. First test in SA started on Jan 5.

Last game of LOI series vs SL finished on 24th December. 5 players from test squad played in this series. Kohli also was missing. 

[sensible-indian]

13 minutes ago, mancalledsting said:

Last game of LOI series vs SL finished on 24th December. 5 players from test squad played in this series. Kohli also was missing. 

Bcci offered to let these players skip loi leg.

Edited January 29, 2018 by sensible-indian

[mancalledsting]

28 minutes ago, sensible-indian said:

Bcci offered to let these players skip loi leg.

who's gonna give up their spot in LOI team for warm up tests? look what happened to Ashwin and Jadeja in LOIs

[sensible-indian]

18 minutes ago, mancalledsting said:

who's gonna give up their spot in LOI team for warm up tests? look what happened to Ashwin and Jadeja in LOIs

Seriously not a big deal when team management sends you. Ash and Jaddu lost out to wrist spinners after ct debacle.

[mancalledsting]

Just now, sensible-indian said:

Seriously not a big deal when team management sends you. Ash and Jaddu lost out to wrist spinners after ct debacle.

someone steps in your place, plays a blinder, you'll now have competition to find your place back in the side. 

[cowboysfan]

hard to believe the selection  of Bumrah was because of Virat,he was the consensus choice from cricket writers to fans.

[goose]

the same flawed logic that kept Rahane out is also keeping Umesh out. pick him and see him perk up once given a fresh start.

[BeautifulGame]

The only left field call that worked was batting first on this wicket.

 

Shami was consistently picking up wickets in 2nd innings .You can even check his career record , he is lethal in 2nd innings.So backing him or giving him ball in 4th innings was no left field call.

 

 

[diehardpacer]

I blame BCCI for setting up that SL series. Had we not played that series,Kohli could have got rest and remaining squad could have arrived in SA. Vijay,Rahul,Pujara and bowlers could have done better job by getting used to the conditions.Not playing Umesh at all was a blunder.He would have done much better than Ishant and probably even Shami .Shami was terrible in 1st innings in all matches.

[mancalledsting]

12 hours ago, BeautifulGame said:

The only left field call that worked was batting first on this wicket.

 

Shami was consistently picking up wickets in 2nd innings .You can even check his career record , he is lethal in 2nd innings.So backing him or giving him ball in 4th innings was no left field call.

 

 

Shami had been expensive and wayward until then, he was even intially wayward even in the 4th innings on day 4 when he gave Amla some freebies and released a lot of pressure from South Africa. Even the first ball when he came back in his wicket taking over, commies were criticising kohli for bringing him back into the attack as runs were a premium at that point. Many were calling for Shami to be dropped as he went missing in the first innings in the first 2 test matches. 

[mancalledsting]

18 hours ago, cowboysfan said:

hard to believe the selection  of Bumrah was because of Virat,he was the consensus choice from cricket writers to fans.

picking some with no prior test experience in a high profile series, coupled with no first class experience in the past 12 months and beyond is definitely a left field call. ICF opinions are not consensus, they are niche. 

[Dada's Army]

Backing Two wrist spinners(L and R). Looks to be the way India will go forward. And why not.

[Unleashed]

The dropping of Ashwin and Jadeja in ODI's is one of the ballsiest I've seen by an Indian captain in some time. Dhoni wouldn't have done it.

[King Tendulkar]

On 29/01/2018 at 1:59 PM, mancalledsting said:

Kohli has received a lot of criticism on the following matters (blatant blunders in bold): 

 

1. Non-selection of KL Rahul and A Rahane 

2. Selection of Dhawan and Rohit

3. Dropping Bhuvi in the 2nd test 

4. Selection of Parthiv Patel 

 

I think it is important to remember some of his left field, non obvious calls that spectacularly worked in India's favour:

 

1. Picking test cricket debutant Jasprit Bumrah 

2. Opening the bowling with Shami in 4th innings Jo'burg and using him to clean up the tail (was on horrible form in that test until then)

3. Backing Shami in 2nd and 3rd test despite his rhythm appearing sub optimal 

4. Backing Ishant....he was miserly all series

5. Choosing to bat first in Johannesburg

6. Opting to complete the third test when talk of abdoning match despite already being 2-0 down in the series

7. Dropping Ashwin and picking 4 front line seamers for 3rd test

8. Picking Ashwin over Jadeja in first 2 tests

 

 

The moral of the story is, Virat is still an inexperienced captain overseas but clearly has the will and passion to win. He has made some captaincy blunders during this tour but has also made some excellent decisions. He has enthused the team with a fighting spirit and never say day attitude and has possibly overseen the assembly of India's most potent ever pace attack. I think its important to back him as a captain (even when he makes some mistakes) as its clear the net movement of Indian cricket under his watch is certainly in the right direction. 

Agree . Shastri must also take credit as well !