In the first ODI match against Australia at Mumbai, Indian captain Virat Kohli experimented with his batting order, giving chance to KL Rahul to bat at No.3. Though it cost to Indian skipper as he lost his wicket early after scoring just 16 runs. The Indian cricket lovers are not happy with the decision of the skipper, sharing their disappointment on Twitter.
Australian players were successful in bundling out the Indian batsmen at 255 runs. Rohit Sharma lost his wicket early to Starc at 10 runs. After Sharma lost his wicket, KL Rahul came to bat at no.3. Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul set the partnership of 121 runs for the second wicket. Unlucky Rahul (47 runs) lost his wicket at three runs ahead of his half-century, on the ball of Ashton Agar. He was the second-highest scorer for India in the match. Consecutively, Dhawan lost his wicket to the speedster Pat Cummins after scoring the most runs for the team – 74 runs off 91 balls.
The team got unstable when Virat Kohli, who came out to bat at number four, managed to score just 16 runs. His decision to change his batting position backfired him. Though this selection of order was selfless, it costed India’s performance. It has brought a lot of criticism from fans on experimenting the playing XI against Australia.
Here, read some twitter reactions from fans urging Virat Kohli to not become so selfless.
India should fix no.4 position. Not fiddle with no.3 position unnecessarily & compound the problem. Kohli has been immensely successful at 3 & must retain that position. Don't muff up no.3 position in order to fix no.4. That's not how things are done. Don't fix that ain't broken.
— Navneet Mundhra (@navneet_mundhra) January 14, 2020
https://twitter.com/k_vijayendra8/status/1217032462171172864?s=20
https://twitter.com/im_ram2/status/1217037783514132480?s=20
Delaying Kohli's innings by 20 overs and then both getting out. Tremendous banter from Rahul and Dhawan. Encouraging signs from an India side not always renowned for its comedy.
— Dave Tickner (@tickerscricket) January 14, 2020
Dont know why Kohli bats down the order. No need to be selfless. When team get benifit with Kohli at no-3 then what is the need to temper with the position ?#Kohli #ViratKohli #INDvsAUS #INDvAUS
— Deepak Joshi (@djlive5) January 14, 2020
Isn't it clear now that kohli playing at no. 4 is not good for the team with both kohli and iyer struggling at 4 and 5 respectively.#AskStar @cricketaakash @VVSLaxman281
— Pawansut Gautam (@Pawansut_Gautam) January 14, 2020
With the settled no4 of shreyas iyer…! Again creating the new prblm by messing up with settled team…! Kohli to no4 is worst strategy…!#INDvsAUS
— Adithya Vardhan (@Aadi191098) January 14, 2020
https://twitter.com/ImCM2903/status/1217048610694549506?s=20