Former Indian cricketer, Gautam Gambhir lashed out at Virat Kohli for his captaincy decisions against Kings XI Punjab on Thursday. Gambhir reckoned that Virat Kohli made a poor decision of bowling Shivam Dube the final over of the innings. He further said that the last over of the ball must be given to the best bowler of the team, especially when there was a set batsman playing at the time.
“I know Shivam Dube bowled really well in his first two overs. Yes, you would be tempted to give him a third over, but not the last over. When KL Rahul is already set and batting on 100+, you are walking on the edge, because that can happen… I would have Navdeep Saini or Dale Steyn bowling the last over, even though Steyn is not the best death bowler. But I would have given the last over to the best bowler of the team,” Gambhir said.
Shivam Dube got rid of both Pooran and Maxwell and bowled well in the first two overs. However, the all-rounder went for 23 runs in his third over of his spell, which helped KKR finish the innings on 206 in 20 overs. Gautam Gambhir reckoned that Virat would have given Umesh Yadav the final over instead of Shivam Dube.
“You (Virat Kohli) finished off Navdeep Saini in the 17th over. Probably, you could have used Umesh Yadav, who did not have the best of the days. But Shivam Dube bowling the last over was a bad calculation,” added the former India opener.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will play their third match of IPL 2020 against Mumbai Indians on Monday.