ICC World Cup 2019: A tactical victory for Virat Kohli

By Boria Majumdar

Much has been said and written about Virat Kohli the captain. That he is still work in progress and has much to do before he is rated as a fine reader of the game. However, in the two games of the World Cup so far, Kohli the captain hasn’t put a foot wrong. If keeping an additional slip against Quinton de Kock was a masterstroke, Kohli won the tactical battle against Australia captain Aaron Finch on Sunday. Here are some of the crucial on-field decisions that made the difference:

PLANNING THE INNINGS

The first and foremost was the way the Indian innings was planned. Winning the toss and batting first meant India had to put 300-plus on the board. Although first 10 overs yielded just 41 runs, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma didn’t panic. In fact, they were happy with the foundation they laid down and successfully built a strong opening stand on it. By the time Kohli came in, the scoreboard read a healthy 127 in 23rd over allowing the skipper time settle down before consolidating India’s position. Australia tried to copy the same tactic and began their innings cautiously but they couldn’t pull off the crucial part — consolidation in the middle overs. While India two back to back big partnerships in that period, Australia kept losing wickets whenever a partnership seemed taking shape.

PANDYA’S PROMOTION
Then came the promotion of Hardik Pandya ahead of MS Dhoni and KL Rahul. It wasn’t a gamble but a bold move. And that innings by Pandya — 48 off 27 balls — was a telling contribution in the end. Australia, who had the option of promoting Glenn Maxwell ahead of Usman Khwaja, opted for the safer option and paid the price. Khwaja scored 42 off 39 balls, failed to keep pace with the asking rate and allowed pressure to mount on the batsmen to follow. The 36-run difference between the two teams indicates how important the Pandya innings was in the context of the match. That cameo helped push the Indian score from 320 to 350-plus, adding those priceless 30 extra runs that made the difference between victory and defeat.

HANDLING THE BOWLING RESOURCES
The second tactical move was in the use of bowling resources. While Australia’s best bowlers, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, bowled just five of the last 10 overs — Maxwell, Adam Zampa, Marcus Stoinis and Nathan Coulter-Nile bowled other five — India had Bumrah and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar to bowl 7 out of 10. It is never easy to hit premier bowlers like Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar consistently and that’s what Smith and Maxwell found out. They can be hit for an over or two but to do so consistently for a period of seveneight overs is very difficult. That meant the late surge by Alex Carey was never going to impact the result of the game.

THE CHAHAL CARD
Finally, it was the Yuzvendra Chahal card that India played against Maxwell. The ‘Big Show’ was going really well and at one point all Indian supporters were starting to feel a little apprehensive. The game had opened up with Maxwell scoring at a rapid pace. Then came Chahal. He had picked up Maxwell quite a few times in the past and this was no different. Yet again the tried and tested outside-the-off-stump line was employed and Maxwell, who had failed in the past, failed yet again. He was lured into a big slog and Ravindra Jadeja, a substitute fielder for Dhawan, ran quite a distance to take a good catch and completed the formalities. The Indians were understandably elated. With Maxwell out, the steam had been taken out of the run chase. With Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar to bowl in the death overs, it was always going to be Himalayan task. If Kohli continues to do what he has done so far in the tournament, it may well be that by the end of it he would have carved out a legacy for himself as captain as well. The world’s premier batsman might soon be labelled as one of the world’s best captains.