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Australias Plan To Stop Virat Kohli May Have Been Revealed In First Odi

Australia's plan to stop Virat Kohli may have been revealed in first ODI

The first ODI between Australia and India went almost according to the desired plan for Australia. Their batting line-up fired on all cylinders and most batsmen seemed to be in good touch. Except for Mitchell Starc's underwhelming performance, their bowlers also did the job efficiently on a completely unsympathetic pitch.

However, there was one very important passage of play in the day that merits special attention. It was the innings of Virat Kohli. The Indian captain, known for his mastery of chasing targets, could only manage 21 runs, that too after being dropped when he had only a solitary run to his name.

A lot of people, including the commentators, felt Kohli seemed too aggressive, to the point of rashness. But far more important than the Indian captain's strokes, what mattered was the way Australians bowled to him. Considering he is the biggest threat from the Indian side, the home team would like to leave no stone unturned in restricting the man with 43 ODI hundreds.

If we look at the way Aussie bowlers bowled to the 32-year old, we can, perhaps, see the plan they have prepared to try and curtail his run making on this tour.

Australia's Plan

In Friday's match, Josh Hazlewood was Australia's best bowler for one very simple reason - he bowled a good line and length. The right-arm seame also utilised the bouncer well. Pat Cummins may have gone for a few runs but he too managed to hit the right areas on most occassions. Starc, known for his speed and yorkers, was wayward.

When Kohli was in, Hazlewood and Cummins were operating and they decided to bowl back of a lenght around the 4-5th stump line. In the over Kohli was dropped, the first ball bounced sharply on this line and went whizzing past the Indian skipper's bat to the keeper. The top-edge drawn later also materialised due to extra bounce.

Since Kohli is very strong when it comes to playing the ball on the leg side, even when the line is around off, Australia had the midwicket in the circle to prevent him getting a single through that region.

Its quite possible that Kohli's decision to step out and try to clear midwicket, in which attempt he lost his wicket, was also induced by this tight line and length being bowled by the two bowlers.

The slight weakness that the current Indian skippper used to have on the 'fifth wicket line' was heavily exploited by James Anderson and some other bowlers. Even during the 2018 Test series in England where Kohli piled up more than 500 runs, it was his patience and decision not to go after deliveries on that line which proved decisive.

But in Australia, bowlers like Hazlewood and Cummins can also get a bit of extra bounce. So, a 4th or 5th stump line with midwicket in place seems to the blueprint Australia are likely to have throughout this tour. However, with Kohli set to miss all but one Test of the tour, this riveting contest will be, sadly, truncated.

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Indians docked 20% match fees for slow over rate

Indian cricket team have been docked 20% of their match fees for slow over-rate during their first ODI against Australia at Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday. ICC Referee David Boon invoked article 2.22 of ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel to issue the order. He was acting on the report by on-field umpires as well as the third and fourth umpires officiating in the game. The Virat Kohli-led Indian team were found to have bowled one over beyond the time allocated for the innings after the officials also factored in other time-consuming circumstances. Skipper Kohli accepted the charges without contesting them. Interestingly, during the match, Australian legend and commentator for host broadcasters, Shane Warne, complained about the declining over-rates in ODI cricket. While Warne's gripe was with the entire cricket-playing community, it was the Indian team that was found to be guilty on this occasion.

Lack of all-rounders? ‘There is one sitting at home’, says Hardik Pandya

Although the Indian ODI team is full of highly talented batsmen and bowlers who can win the team games on their own on a given day, the lack of bowling from Hardik Pandya has thrown off the balance of the playing XI. The absence of genuine all-rounder has always been the Achilles heels for the Indian team in the past and it was clearly evident in the first ODI against Australia when captain Virat Kohli had no options but to throw balls to the only five bowling options he had at his disposal and consequently failed to break the momentum of the Australian batting. In the middle phase of the game, when Steve Smith and Aaron Finch were going berserk against frontline pacers after getting their feet in the game, Kohli was left toothless and could not quite check the flow of the runs. Asked about India's issues on the field today, Pandya quipped that the lack of bowling option hurt them and that maybe the team management should have a look at the Pandya family to solve the conundrum. "…maybe you can name it who all are there… maybe we should look in the Pandya family only," he said. Known for his exploits in the Mumbai Indians line-up, Krunal Pandya is yet to make his Indian debut. On the other hand, a contentious issue of playing Hardik Pandya as a specialist batsman instead of a reliable Manish Pandey was settled after Hardik put an incredible performance with the bat scoring 90 runs off 76 balls in a losing cause. Pandya further apprised about the status of his fitness and the bowling plans he has in his mind in the post-match press conference. He said that he is in no mood to hurry through, more so when there are more important tournaments such as the World Cups are coming. He also asked for grooming for more all-rounders in order to strengthen the bench strength of the Indian team. "Even when I came into the circuit, I was not always the all-rounder which I wanted to be. But with time I groomed myself and became that bowling option. I worked on my bowling,” Pandya said.

Australia vs India | 2nd ODI: Match Preview, Predicted XI & Dream11 Fantasy Picks

It is going to be a do or die affair for India to remain relevant in the ODI series ahead of the long Australian summer when they take on the Aussies in the 2nd game at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 29th November, Sunday. All eyes would be fixed on how Virat Kohli’s men come back from the humiliating defeat in the first ODI where they lost against some quality batting show from the entire Australian batting order. The Indian team would be looking to get past the hurdle of playing in the T20 mould in a 50-over game. As was evident in the match, the first 20 overs was when the Indian team looked a bit in control, but post that, it was all Australia. Similarly while batting in the second innings, the batsmen didn’t look to apply themselves and always seemed in hurry. Even the Indian captain agreed to that in the post-match presentation saying, “The body language after 25-26 overs was disappointing.” The sixth bowler problem “We'll have to find out ways of getting a few overs from a few part-timers in the side,” said the captain indicating that the Indian team is in dire need of a batsman who could bowl. “Unfortunately, Hardik is not ready to bowl yet so we have to accept that and work around it. That is an area we have looked at, which is a very big part of any team balance,” he added, very openly also admitting that apart from Hardik Pandya, there isn’t actually anyone in the squad, who could bowl. In such a situation, the team needs to find a way out by playing someone who could do both the jobs, but as of now, options are hard to come by. Playing Natarajan in place of Saini is one option to try and mitigate the death bowling, but that still does not solve the problem at hand. India could have turned towards someone like Hanuma Vihari, but a stacked middle order in Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey meant that Vihari could not make the cut for the limited-overs game. Australia will go all guns blazing While the Indian team had plenty of problems to deal with, Australia has none barring the freak injury of Marcus Stoinis. The form of Starc in the initial overs seemed to be a worrying factor, but the left-arm quick, in his later spells gave full assurance to the team that he is up and running. So instead of keeping the series alive, all that the Aussies would look for is killing it right here in Sydney, before moving to the capital in Canberra for the last game. Aus vs Ind: Match Details 2nd ODI Venue: Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Broadcast: SonyLIV, Sony Ten Network, DD Sports Date and Timing: November 27, 09:10 IST, 03:40 GMT Pitch Report The pitch in Sydney was a proper flat deck, offering almost nothing to the bowlers until they hit the deck very hard and bowled into it instead of trying to get some assistance like swing or seam. The odd ball did hold up in the second innings, giving an indication that if the same wicket is used in the second game, it might come to the aid of the spinners. Weather and Toss On Friday, Sydney recorded record temperatures hovering close to 40 degrees Celsius. While there are predictions of abundant cloud cover on Sunday with 20 per cent chances of precipitation, the captains should look to bat first if they win the toss. Team News Australia Marcus Stoinis was forced to leave midway through the second innings due to a side strain and might not be available for the second game, although a final call would only be taken post the assessment today evening. If he doesn’t play, then the fight for his place in the team is a really tough one between Cameroon Green and Moises Henriques. Henriques, with his experience of both having represented Australia in the past as well as of playing at Sydney (New South Wales), would be more favoured than the 21-year-old Western Australian. Strongest XI Aaron Finch(c), David Warner, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Moises Henriques, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa India The Indian team will need to come up with a plan B for this game, but first of all the captain will need to get back in form. Virat Kohli's dreadful average of 9 at the SCG was not helped last evening when he came out to bat, despite him looking in good touch. There are no injuries as such, however, there might just happen a change where Natrajan might be tried in place of Saini who had a very bad day registering his worst figures in ODI cricket. Kuldeep Yadav could be tried, but knowing Virat Kohli and the administration, it is very unlikely that India will play three spinners or for that matter two wrist spinners together. Strongest XI Mayank Agarwal, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, T. Natarajan Australia vs India: Dream11 fantasy team suggestions David Warner, Aaron Finch, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Glenn Maxwell, Hardik Pandya, Pat Cummins, Mohammed Shami, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa Captain: Steve Smith Vice-captain: David Warner

Sandeep Lamichhane COVID-19 positive; big setback for Hobart Hurricanes

Nepalese leg-spinner Sandeep Lammichhane has tested positive for Covid-19 and the timing of his illness may just rule him out of the Big Bash League scheduled to start in just a couple of weeks time. "It's my sincere duty to tell you all that I have been tested positive for COVID-19. I had some body aches since Wednesday. But my health is improving a little bit now. If all goes well, I will return to the field again. Keep me in your prayers," Lamichhane tweeted. Lamichhane has been one of the promising wrist spinners in the game who have garnered a huge following among franchises in the world and he travels across the globe to take part in T20 leagues such as the Indian Premier League, Big Bash League among others. Lamichhane shined in the last season of the BBL when he was playing for the Melbourne Stars and subsequently the Hobart Hurricanes roped him in to bolster his slow bowling options. His illness and a possible omission from the league will be a huge setback for the team before the start of the 10th edition of the league. He was the first cricketer from Nepal to bag an IPL contract when the Delhi Capitals had bought him in the auction before the 2018 edition of the IPL.