Why is Kohli playing as an opener?

[Ultimate_Game]

What's the point of playing Kohli as an opener? We already have one iffy opener in Rohit who fails more often than not. And we added another liability. Kohli's game is not to force the pace. He's a no. 3 bat who takes his time to get in. His success at intl level has come in at 3. So why is he opening the innings? Plus we all know his frailties against left arm seamers. Likes of Starc and Marco Jensen will be licking their lips in anticipation.

 

If we want someone to take on the bowlers, Jaiswal is in the squad and is more likely to succeed. Plus he's a specialist opener. By making Kohli an opener, we've made this top order even more lop-sided and TBH it looks even worse than RCB. It says it all that Pant is the only one holding this whole batting lineup together.

 

I hope the team management finally wakes up, comes to their senses, and play Jaiswal and push Kohli to 3. But I'm not holding my breath as one thing Dravid and this team management has shown is they're inflexible and double down on poor decisions. We saw this with SKY in Tests and ODIs, persisting with KS Bharath and Avesh Khan, selecting likes of Chahal and Siraj in the WT20 squad etc.

 

Hope someone gets it that this is Indian team, and not their personal fiefdom where they can do whatever they feel like. If Kohli wants to open, he should be told either he bats at 3 or he's not playing.

[Lord]

Just watch this WT20 as a comedy. Real hope will start only when these guys go.

[cricketfan28]

11 minutes ago, Lord said:

Just watch this WT20 as a comedy. Real hope will start only when these guys go.

I have no hope man ..we suck.

[putrevus]

He just needs to show up in knock outs.

 

Group matches are not important according to ICF.Why are people whining.

[Ultimate_Game]

35 minutes ago, putrevus said:

He just needs to show up in knock outs.

 

Group matches are not important according to ICF.Why are people whining.

 

We're whining coz he's playing out of position. He's not an opener but playing as one and keeping a genuine opener out of the team. And as you've seen without Kohli doing much India still has managed to reach the Super 8 comfortably.

[Frustrated]

48 minutes ago, putrevus said:

He just needs to show up in knock outs.

 

Group matches are not important according to ICF.Why are people whining.

We may not be able to reach the knock outs by having an opener who has scores of 0, 4 & 0 in the 3 games so far.     

Edited June 12, 2024 by Frustrated

[putrevus]

1 minute ago, Frustrated said:

We may not be able to reach the knock outs by having an opener who has scores of 0, 4 & 0 in the 3 games so far.     

So it has helped middle order to get some runs.He will be fine for next round.

[cowboysfan]

Only Dravid thinks its a good idea,nobody else does.even in Tests Kohli trys to feel the ball outside off and these pitches will eat you up if you go fishing.

[srgadjon]

Because he thinks he can use the powerplay and boost his strike rate by opening the innings. If he bats at 3, his strike rate will be too low and there are other options who are better than him at that position like Pant or even Suryakumar who can force the pace. 

 

In Indian team, seniority and superstar status matters so he can get away with his wish to open the innings or anything he wishes. There is nothing coach or captain or the selectors can do. This is why we have no business expecting India to win the World Cup over Australia or England which are way more professionally run teams.

[putrevus]

12 minutes ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

We're whining coz he's playing out of position. He's not an opener but playing as one and keeping a genuine opener out of the team. And as you've seen without Kohli doing much India still has managed to reach the Super 8 comfortably.

Yes he is playing out of position and that is TM fault.He should be number 3.Greatest number 3 should not have to move his spot.Idiotic decision.

 

They had hale and healthy Pant last time around too but they still chose to keep playing KL rahul. So blame TM for making him into opener.

 

He was not needed here as bowlers decided to show up once for change.

 

 

[Ultimate_Game]

1 minute ago, cowboysfan said:

Only Dravid thinks its a good idea,nobody else does.even in Tests Kohli trys to feel the ball outside off and these pitches will eat you up if you go fishing.

 

Irrespective of the pitches, Kohli shouldn't be opening. He's not an opener and his best position is 3 and that's where he was most successful. Why break something which ain't broke? Get Jaiswal in who's an opener and push Kohli to 3. Drop Jadeja to make way and also replace Siraj with Kuldeep. 

[straighttalk]

2 hours ago, Ultimate_Game said:

What's the point of playing Kohli as an opener? We already have one iffy opener in Rohit who fails more often than not. And we added another liability. Kohli's game is not to force the pace. He's a no. 3 bat who takes his time to get in. His success at intl level has come in at 3. So why is he opening the innings? Plus we all know his frailties against left arm seamers. Likes of Starc and Marco Jensen will be licking their lips in anticipation.

 

If we want someone to take on the bowlers, Jaiswal is in the squad and is more likely to succeed. Plus he's a specialist opener. By making Kohli an opener, we've made this top order even more lop-sided and TBH it looks even worse than RCB. It says it all that Pant is the only one holding this whole batting lineup together.

 

I hope the team management finally wakes up, comes to their senses, and play Jaiswal and push Kohli to 3. But I'm not holding my breath as one thing Dravid and this team management has shown is they're inflexible and double down on poor decisions. We saw this with SKY in Tests and ODIs, persisting with KS Bharath and Avesh Khan, selecting likes of Chahal and Siraj in the WT20 squad etc.

 

Hope someone gets it that this is Indian team, and not their personal fiefdom where they can do whatever they feel like. If Kohli wants to open, he should be told either he bats at 3 or he's not playing.

I absolutely agree with what you said but I don't think it's just inflexibility .it's also about backing an idea and giving it enough chance to see if it is a success or failure..continuity is good too inspit of constant chopping and changing..issue is why do this at world cup instead of earlier.

 

Now regarding Kohlis failures..it's not opening per se..it's forcing the issue from ball 1 is not his game...taking singles and allowing others to hit out is his game...it's more about the role than the position in my mind..but the pitches at my are awful ..so let's hold the jury out until  a good pitch..hopefully it doesn't bite us..the other thing is having kohli makes the team unbalanced if we have to play a high risk game...I would say drop dube and get jaiswal...and maybe get kuldeep in place of siraj  or jadeja...bringing kuldeep is sure as we don't have a long batting depth or lose a seamer

[Ultimate_Game]

3 minutes ago, straighttalk said:

I absolutely agree with what you said but I don't think it's just inflexibility .it's also about backing an idea and giving it enough chance to see if it is a success or failure..continuity is good too inspit of constant chopping and changing..issue is why do this at world cup instead of earlier.

 

Now regarding Kohlis failures..it's not opening per se..it's forcing the issue from ball 1 is not his game...taking singles and allowing others to hit out is his game...it's more about the role than the position in my mind..but the pitches at my are awful ..so let's hold the jury out until  a good pitch..hopefully it doesn't bite us..the other thing is having kohli makes the team unbalanced if we have to play a high risk game...I would say drop dube and get jaiswal...and maybe get kuldeep in place of siraj  or jadeja...bringing kuldeep is sure as we don't have a long batting depth or lose a seamer

 

Even on a good pitch, would you rather Jaiswal opens and goes for it with Kohli coming in at 3, or hope Kohli succeeds as the opener? There won't be any breathing room Super 8 onwards so we'll have to adjust quickly. As an example, back in 2011 we played Yusuf Pathan at no. 7 as he had a great series against SA before the WC. But he failed in group stage and Dhoni replaced him with Raina. And we all know what Raina did in QF and SF in that WC. We would've lost if we hadn't made that change.

 

Sometimes we need to acknowledge the error and make adjustments. Similarly, we played Ashwin in QF on Motera pitch against Aus though Ashwin hadn't played any game before that. The reason we won the tourney was we made those changes. We were flexible enough to tweak things. We're asking the same to be done here. Kohli's game is built to be a no. 3 bat. Rohit, Jaiswal, and Pant, SKY are going to be the ones to go for it. Kohli needs to be there at 3 to do what he does best, i.e. lend solidity to the top order.

 

We've a great chance as the Super 8 group seems to be a winnable one and after that it's just 2 good days. Don't waste this opportunity being inflexible and going with the same approach which isn't working.

[Kron]

2 hours ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

Even on a good pitch, would you rather Jaiswal opens and goes for it with Kohli coming in at 3, or hope Kohli succeeds as the opener? There won't be any breathing room Super 8 onwards so we'll have to adjust quickly. As an example, back in 2011 we played Yusuf Pathan at no. 7 as he had a great series against SA before the WC. But he failed in group stage and Dhoni replaced him with Raina. And we all know what Raina did in QF and SF in that WC. We would've lost if we hadn't made that change.

 

Sometimes we need to acknowledge the error and make adjustments. Similarly, we played Ashwin in QF on Motera pitch against Aus though Ashwin hadn't played any game before that. The reason we won the tourney was we made those changes. We were flexible enough to tweak things. We're asking the same to be done here. Kohli's game is built to be a no. 3 bat. Rohit, Jaiswal, and Pant, SKY are going to be the ones to go for it. Kohli needs to be there at 3 to do what he does best, i.e. lend solidity to the top order.

 

We've a great chance as the Super 8 group seems to be a winnable one and after that it's just 2 good days. Don't waste this opportunity being inflexible and going with the same approach which isn't working.

Kohli should lend his solidity to the bench. That would be ideal.

Same goes with rohit

Same with sky regardless of his 50. He plain sucks vs any top team.

[The Realist]

Kohli is finished at international level. Hand-eye coordination is shot. May have scored some cheap runs v hits n giggles IPL teams but its time to move on from him.

 

The whole T20 team & coaching staff needs a major reconstruction once this tournament ends, starting with the two oldies opening + Dravid.

Edited June 12, 2024 by The Realist

[vvvslaxman]

All 3 are familar dismissals. Chasing the wide balls and giving catch practice.

 

 

 

[Strangering]

8 hours ago, Frustrated said:

We may not be able to reach the knock outs by having an opener who has scores of 0, 4 & 0 in the 3 games so far.     

Hey... he had 1 run against Ireland. 1, 4, 0. You can't reduce his total runs by massive 20% like that. 

[diga]

He will get some cheap runs against Canada and everything will be fine... rinse repeat

[Manucrick]

to ruin jaiswal chance

[Manucrick]

18 minutes ago, diga said:

He will get some cheap runs against Canada and everything will be fine... rinse repeat

All florida matches likely to washout