Virat Kohli will face the toughest battle of his nascent ODI captain’s career when the defending Indian champions face South Africa in a fourth or final round of the ICC Champions Trophy here Sunday.
Their confidence shivered after Sri Lanka effortlessly batted them in a high-scoring encounter, the Indian team and Kohli in particular, will be keen to ensure that South Africa are still known as “chokers.”
Call it irony, if India loses the game, it will be defending champions making an exit even before the semifinal.
If the Proteas lose, then the current No.1 ranked ODI side would be ejected before the last four stage.
A defeat will have skeptics blaming the speculated off-field for performance.
In such a context, Kohli will be under enormous pressure with the margin of error being almost nil.
For AB de Villiers, it will be an opportunity to demonstrate that the self-imposed exile of the five-day game has not affected their limited abilities.
With three quality southpaws – Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy and David Miller – in the South African lineup, Kohli can not afford to keep Ravichandran Ashwin in a cold spot.
More so after knowing what can happen to Ravindra Jadeja when there is absolutely nothing in the fringe.
Ashwin atleast has some natural variations, including the blackout that is its common ball. The proud player that is, Ashwin will be smarting after being excluded in the first two games and can only work positively in favor of India.
However, leadership skills and understanding of the Kohli skipper’s current situation will be under scrutiny depending on the type of XI game he chooses for the next match.
Ashwin’s entry into Game XI seems logical, but it certainly will not replace Jadeja as two spinners will likely play against the Proteas, who are not comfortable with slow bowlers.
The other great factor is the electric field of Jadeja within the circle and the powerful arm from any part of the dividing line. Jadeja can save at least 15 runs per game which makes him a useful player in this format.
Nor can Hardik Pandya fall as his pyrotechnics at number 7 is just what is needed from a hitter used as a float in order.
Jasprit Bumrah is another specialist bowler, who is a certainty in game XI, with his ability to roll Yorkers at will to death.
Therefore, it will be Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Umesh Yadav, who may have to give way to Ashwin.
In Powerplay’s second game during the Sri Lankan match, India had conceded more than 200 runs, something Ashwin will be asked to check as a marauding AB de Villiers will be eager to score.
With 319 and 323 scores in both games, batting has an established look.
All top-ranked hitters have achieved decent success, including the opening duo of Rohit-Sharma-Shikhar Dhawan, who conjured up societies two centuries ago.
Although both starters have been in good nick, there is no denying that they have also consumed a lot of balls initially, which finally had an impact during the game of Lanka.
With the new rules of Powerplay, any total of less than 340 can be eliminated with some positive intention in strokeplay.
Kohli is happy with batting performance, but on a practical note, he feels he may need 20 cushion runs.
“You might think about the phases where we could have accelerated (against Sri Lanka), but I do not see that as an important issue.
Maybe we’ll have to push harder now in the next few games to give us a 20-runner shock after seeing a result like this, because we’re playing on the same ground as well, “said the captain.
In fact, South African batting coach Neil McKenzie also agreed that fluency has been a problem for all team starters.
“It’s been a bit tough for the starters.
Fluency has been a problem. But you have to adapt to the situations, since the conditions here require little caution. The wickets need to be saved so that you can attack on the backend, “said McKenzie.
On the personal front, Kohli himself would want to lead with the bat against a team that has players like Morne Morkel and Chris Morris.
Imran Tahir, whose stock ball is googly, could test Rohit’s defense as the Mumbaikar had some trouble reading the ‘bad one’ of him during IPL.
With an interesting main plot and sub-weave layers, one can lean for a stimulating action between two quality sides.
Squads:
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprim Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Dinesh Karthik, Ajinkya Rahane. Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (Rangers), David Miller, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Keshav Maharaj, Farhan Behardien, Chris Morri
