Kohli’s elevation justified

Australian sports psychologists always recommend- take care of the runs and the dollars will take care of themselves! Virat Kohli epitomises this thought. The rare day of the leap year brought special news to him as he was promoted as the vice captain of the team ahead of the Asia Cup which starts on 11^th March.

His magnificent performances down under which include a hundred apiece in Tests as well as one-day games led to his elevation. He amassed 373 runs at an impressive average of 53.29. Resultantly, he was rewarded with this responsibility after his marvellous innings of 133* versus Sri Lanka at Hobart.  It questions the leadership role of other seniors in the team . For instance, Gautam Gambhir who was seen as the successor to M.S. Dhoni was snubbed on this occasion. Virender Sehwag too, was ‘rested’ for this series.

In one of his recent interviews Rahul Dravid mentioned that Gambhir should not be disappointed with the elevation of Kohli to this post. There was a need for him (Kohli) to establish himself but this shall be a good experience for him. Other retired players like Wasim Akram have questioned his appointment stating that there would be unrest amongst the seniors. Former World Cup winning captain, Kapil Dev also accused Dhoni of being biased in appointing him for the post.

In my opinion, Kohli can prove to be a good leader. The last time India played the tri-series in Australia in 2008, it was under his captaincy that the Indian U-19 team won the World Cup in Malaysia. His skills as a leader were appreciated in the last Indian Premier League when he captained the Royal Challengers Bangalore for most of the time in the tournament. The sense of responsibility in him needs no justification. At the age of eighteen he was playing Ranji tournaments. In one of the matches, he was batting on 30 when he got the news that his father’s demise. He insisted on continuing the innings so that his team could win the match and scored 90 runs. And then went home to perform the last rites. This incident speaks for itself!

Other youngsters in the team have had their experiences at captaincy. Experimentation has been done with Gambhir and Suresh Raina. Given his current form and his capabilities, Kohli certainly deserves a chance to prove his mettle as vice captain. 

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Paul-struck Chennai Super Kings lose to Kings XI Punjab

It has been one of those matches which left everyone awestruck. A right word to describe the performance put up by both Chennai Super Kings and the Kings XI Punjab. The latter won the match by six wickets after a swashbuckling knock from Paul Valthaty.

Having won the toss, Kings XI Punjab chose to bat first on a pitch that had a lot to offer for the bowlers as well as the batsmen. Praveen Kumar squeezed everything out of the pitch in his initial over; dismissing Srikkanth Anirudha and Suresh Raina in the first two balls of the match. 

Subramanian Badrinath and Murali Vijay put up a resilient 124-run stand to steady the ship for the Super Kings.  The momentum kept going with the brisk scoring rate from the batsmen. Vijay scored in balls which included some gutsy sixes too. Badrinath kept the scoreboard ticking with his innings of 66. M.S. Dhoni continued his purple patch with his brutal innings that helped the Super Kings reach a total of 188/4 after 20 overs. It was an effort well applauded especially after their initial crisis.

Punjab had a mountain to climb to chase the target at more than nine runs an over. Adam Gilchrist and Paul Valthathy did exactly what they were supposed to do by putting up a brilliant opening stand. They raced to 61 in 5.5 overs when Gilchrist flicked a ball straight in the hands of Suraj Randiv to the bowling of Albie Morkel. For a change, he was a spectator to the murderous batting of Paul during his innings of 19. Shaun Marsh was run out leaving Kings XI reeling at 100-2 from 10.1 overs. With ample wickets in hand and nine overs to chase the total, Paul Valthaty continued with his marauder to the Super Kings’ bowlers. Every shot of his showed great execution and powerful strokeplay. Bowlers with the likes of Morkel, Ashwin, Southee, Jakati, and Randiv were all having a bad day at the office with an average economy of eight.

Sunny Singh offered some support with his cameo of 20 which included two boundaries and a six. He got out to the bowling of Randiv. A twist in the tale- Southee trapped Abhishek Nayar lbw at the very next delivery which left Punjab reeling again at 136-4. While all of this happened, Paul continued with what he had been doing throughout the innings. Usually, any ball that is pitched in a batsman’s area would be plundered to the boundary. But in Paul’s case there was no specific area. Every ball that came out of the bowler’s hands was hit for a boundary or a six and reached his century in 52 balls. 

Eventually, he scored an unbeaten 120 from 63 balls which included 19 fours and 2 sixes. Dinesh Karthik provided the right support to Paul’s innings with his knock of 21 that included two fours and a six to seal things off for his team.  

The commentators on air rightly described his innings- a colour blind batsman who could not see yellow fielders! Be it his slog sweeps or his slashes through the point or the hook strokes- he had it in his armour and used them at the right time.

While Chennai will have a lot to learn from this defeat especially their bowling and fielding aspects, Punjab got a huge morale booster to turn things around. No way better to do it under Gilchrist’s captaincy. He did it earlier for the Deccan Chargers and can be expected to do the same this time too. The match swayed both the sides with Chennai showing magnificent batting skills with their recover after the initial slump of two wickets. Punjab did the same too, but the smart chase ensured their victory.  Chennai face Bangalore in their next match and Punjab would play against Hyderabad.


Pictures © AFP