Kohli, the perfect ringmaster
BANGALORE: Virat Kohli was animated on Tuesday as he played the perfect puppeteer to pull off a spectacular victory. The India skipper had a chat with counterpart Steven Smith to raise the heat. However, it were his encouraging words to his bowlers, and bowling changes that rallied the hosts. After the match, Kohli said India had assessed the Bangalore pitch right. India ditched their fivebowler policy, and included Karun Nair as the sixth specialist batsman. “We knew the Bangalore wicket. Since it has been relaid there have been only one or two bowlers doing the job. In this Test match as well, Lyon got eight in the first innings, then Jadeja got six, Hazlewood six and Ashwin six. One bowler has stood out, even in the first-class season. From that feedback, we knew we had to play an extra batter.”
It were his quick changes that stood out as Australia looked to score quickly, trying to ward off pressure. Kohli first took left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja off after one over at the far end to bring on Umesh Yadav and the fast bowler delivered with two early wickets. Then Ishant Sharma was taken off after he leaked runs in one over. He was replaced by Jadeja, who dried up the runs to pile on the pressure for Ashwin to strike at the other end.
Kohli was all over the place. He first pleaded with Jadeja as he demanded a review against Mitch Marsh, asking him, “Are you sure”, “Are you sure” before going for it. It proved unsuccessful but wasn’t too expensive. He ran up to Ishant to give tips, and then raced to Ashwin, at the opposite end, animatedly suggesting to the offie that he should get the batsmen batpad.