Why Kohli defied team doctors with Pandya call

Indian captain Virat Kohli has admitted that his decision to bowl all-rounder Hardik Pandya during Australia's innings in the second ODI was not pre-meditated.

The star all-rounder bowled for the first time in an ODI since India's World Cup semi-final defeat to New Zealand in July 2019, finishing with figures of 1-24 off four overs, including the prized wicket of Steve Smith.

Kohli's decision to bowl Pandya came just days after the all-rounder himself admitted that he was "not game-ready" to bowl and eyed more important tournaments such as next year's T20 World Cup as a platform where he would return to the crease.

"It was out of nowhere," Kohli said of the decision to turn to Pandya after India's 51-run loss on Sunday night.

Hardik Pandya

"I asked him how he was feeling and he said, 'I'm okay to bowl a couple of overs', and then he got into it and felt a bit better and bowled two more.

"I think he gave away the plan of how to bowl on this pitch. A lot of the bowlers in our innings started bowling off-cutters, but credit to them, they bowled much more consistently than us and they used the dimensions of the field which we unfortunately did not."

https://twitter.com/beastieboy07/status/1332931722476830721

Pandya briefly left the field of play immediately after his fourth over, but returned for the final overs of Australia's innings. He appeared uninhibited by the extra bowling during India's batting innings, finishing with a scratchy 31-ball 28.

Kohli appeared to have defied the wishes of the Indian medical team, with the team's management having previously stated that Pandya could only bowl a maximum of two overs per innings during the Australian tour.

Hardik Pandya

Former Australian captain Mark Taylor said that the delicate dance between a team's captain and medical staff in terms of managing player workloads was commonplace.

"It's always the debate," he told Wide World of Sports.

"The medical staff will be conservative, as they should be, and the captains and selectors will be less conservative because they will want what is best for their team and the balance of their team.

"Australia picked Moises Henriques this game and they could have easily gone for someone like Cam Green, but he's not bowling as many overs as Moises has.

"The medical staff probably won out and said let's be more conservative and pick the guy that has been bowling more."

Steve Smith of Australia speaks to Hardik Pandya of India.

While India's unchanged bowling attack as whacked to all parts of the SCG by Australia's batsmen, Taylor said that the home side's score of 4-389 was not evidence that India got its selection wrong.

"It's easy to say in hindsight that they should have picked another bowler, but would it have made a difference?" he said.

"I look at someone like Jasprit Bumrah, who is a fine bowler, yet in the last two innings he has gone the journey because Australia are in good touch.

"To be fair, Australia have won two good tosses and they've taken advantage of that."

India will hope to avoid a series sweep when the two sides face off in the third ODI in Canberra on Wednesday afternoon.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply