Virat’s new ploy gives RCB bowlers a free run

: Royals Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli admitted that him communicating with bowlers in the death overs may lead to confusion, and so on Tuesday against Mumbai Indians (MI), he allowed bowlers to back their instincts and take responsibility for their decisions.

“I realised that there is no point talking too much to the bowlers, create confusion. I just told the bowlers to back their gut. Take ownership of your field, your own plans, and own them,” he said right after the match that RCB won to get two important points and stay alive in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2018).

There have been questions raised over his captaincy, especially over the players picked this season. During this IPL stint, or at least in the last two games, Kohli has appeared less intense than he usually is on the field, talking much less to bowlers than he generally would. (IPL 2018 points table)

In both these games, the field set allowed KKR opener Chris Lynn on Sunday and Mumbai Indians all-rounder Hardik Pandya on Tuesday to take easy singles and get off strike against RCB’s ace spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. In fact, Pandya on Tuesday was all at sea against Chahal. Instead of keeping the field tight, RCB allowed him easy singles, get off strike and target other bowlers. Pandya managed a half-century and brought his team close.

Towards the end of the game, Brendon McCullum did most of talking to bowlers, helping them arrange the field.

Asked about McCullum’s involvement towards the end stages, New Zealand paceman Tim Southee, who won man of the match for his 2/25 said, “I think we’ve got a lot of knowledge in the group. We’ve got some guys who have played a lot of cricket. It is nice to have those leaders.

“Obviously, he (McCullum) has captained New Zealand for a long time as well,” added Southee. “He has got a nice cricketing brain. It is nice to have different voices out there helping Virat out. It’s nice to share the knowledge, passing on. He had batted for a while and was passing on his knowledge to the bowlers.”

Southee was questioned about Kohli’s strategy of letting the bowlers decide the field.

“It got a bit close towards the end and Virat got the belief in the guys, telling them to go out and back their strongest skill sets and we saw that with the way Siraj closed out his last over. We knew we had to keep taking wickets, so it becomes hard for these guys to come out and restart.”

BANGALORE