WI vs IND | Takeaways - Shreyas Iyer’s proximity to Virat Kohli model and Jason Holder’s clueless captaincy
A commendable batting performance by Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer in the third ODI in Port of Spain resulted in India securing the bragging rights of the ODI series as well. The major takeaway from the game was the way Iyer accelerated his innings, in the mould of the Indian skipper.
Can wickets always be a better arbiter
Since the evolution of modern-day ODI cricket, for a bowler, wickets have found the maximum importance while as great a role a holding bowler possesses, he has never gone beyond playing second fiddle. It is, in a way, ODI cricket’s equivalent of off-spinners - they are a joy to watch but leggies will have the cake. Indian pacers’ performance today told a story.Â
Not a single bowler tried to go for the tested formula of bowling good length balls that reaped huge dividends in the last game and even after realising Chris Gayle was in a the Gaylestorm zone today, they didn’t bring a change in the plan. By keeping the ball full, and asking the left-hand dominated top-order to exploit the short on-side boundaries was never the ideal way going forward but hardly anyone realised it. Even Bhuvneshwar Kumar, for that matter, was not trying to keep the ball tight and in search of non-existent movement, he made a mess up his bowling figure.
After repeated interruptions due to rain, the wicket surprisingly slowed down a fair bit and that was evident from Ravindra Jadeja and Yuzvendra Chahal’s spell. But Khaleel Ahmed and Mohammed Shami didn’t learn any lessons from that, and instead of trying other variations to expose the slowness of the surface, they went on a spree of their own. Wouldn’t holding one end up and try reducing the run-rate be a better option at that time? Did India really need to pick wickets? Arbiter changes with the situation and one shouldn’t forget that.
Shreyas Iyer and the proximity to the Kohli model
Let’s just admit it - It is plain unfortunate that a talent like Shreyas Iyer wasn’t in India’s World Cup squad forget the playing XI. A pure orthodox batsman, from the mould of the Bombay Gharana, Iyer’s biggest strength lies with the fact that he can make a difficult shot look ridiculously easy, like another illustrious batsman from the city. No, I am not talking about Sachin Tendulkar. I am talking about Rohit Sharma and his unflinching charisma of batsmanship. However, look closely, Iyer resembles more like Virat Kohli than Sharma.
Take a particular shot off Carlos Brathwaite for example. Iyer strode back, instead of getting into the position of punch, he steadied himself to effortlessly guide that past gully for four. Another ball, which was on the pads, was caressed to the mid-wicket, almost nonchalantly. While the shots had an eerie similarity, his approach brought him much closer to the Kohli model.
With a mountain to climb, Iyer never flinched nor did he panic, rather waited for that one bad ball to send it out of the park. It was the proper calculation that was going in his head helped him keep his calm during the entire process. For the longest time, India have always demanded a middle-order player like him and now they can hope this turns out to be a gold dust and not a flash in the pan.
Glaring problems with Holder
Jason Holder’s reputation as an inspirational leader of men is never a cliche and he commands the highest level of respect in the Windies dressing room. However, there can be a healthy debate on if he deserves to be the captain in the limited-overs game, especially because of the ultra-defensive mode of captaincy which, ever since the World Cup, has come out as a crack wide open.
In the middle-overs, after Shikhar Dhawan’s dismissal, the ball was in Windies’ court to attack relentlessly and capitalise on that. Rishabh Pant getting out helped their cause in a great deal but Holder brought in a spinner to counter the combination of Kohli and Iyer. Of course, the wicket had slowed down a bit but it wasn’t holding up, making the duo go for that odd sixes almost on a regular basis. Holder still had the option of persisting with Carlos Brathwaite there but Allen was employed again.Â
While that still could have been forgiven but by having an off-side dominated field, leaving the square of leg-side completely open, Holder missed a trick. Allen, due to the natural spin trajectory he follows, dips the ball in and more often than not, land the ball just ahead of the front pad, making things easier for the batsmen to counter him on the leg-side. In such a scenario, it was imperative for a skipper to come and guide his bowlers however, Holder was hiding deep at mid-wicket.Â
