Legendary Sunil Gavaskar questioned Virat Kohli’s tactics in the last 4 overs of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s bowling innings, saying giving away 74 runs in the said period cost them the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 match in Dubai on Thursday.
Sunil Gavaskar said Virat Kohli did not use all his first-choice bowlers in the last 4 overs wherein KL Rahul went berserk. The former India captain said the drop catches against KL Rahul would have been playing in the RCB skipper’s mind during the latter stages of the innings.
Kohli, one of the finest fielders going around, had an off day as he dropped KL Rahul twice in as many overs before the KXIP captain hit the first hundred of the IPL 2020 season. Rahul grabbed the opportunities with both hands as he smashed RCB bowlers all over the park to help KXIP finish with a bang. KXIP hit 49 runs in the last 2 overs as Rhul took Dale Steyn and Shivam Dube to the cleaners.
“You got to question Virat Kohli’s tactics in the last 4 overs. 74 runs in the last 4 overs, you saw who the bowlers were, you wouldn’t be too surprised. I thought the last 4 overs would go for maybe 50 runs but they went for 74 runs. That’s too much,” Sunil Gavaskar told Star Sports in a post-match show.
Kohli wasn’t left with a lot of options as Umesh Yadav had another poor day with the ball, leaking 35 runs in 3 overs. Kohli trusted Dube, who had given away just 10 runs and picked 2 wickets in his first 2 overs, to bowl the final over but the young all-rounder gave away 23 runs.
“Well, it certainly seems to be the case as far as his tactics were concerned in the last 4 overs because he just dropped KL Rahul in the 70s and the 80s and that may have stayed on his mind,” Gavaskar said while speaking about the impact of the dropped catches.
“So when it came to the last 4 overs, he wasn’t sure who should be bowling them. You don’t want to go for 49 runs in the last 2 overs. That’s a big difference. At the end of the day, they almost lost by 100 runs, that’s another matter.
“If it had been a matter of chasing 185-190, it would have been a completely different situation. But there you are, in cricket, that’s what happens.
“However great you are, at the end of the day, you’re human. Your feelings are always there, you’re always thinking ‘oh I should have taken that catch. Is it going to cost me much?’. In trying to think that way, you sometimes tend to think ‘should I be moving that fielder there, should I be bowling him’. That can happen.”
