Opinion: Virat Kohli And His Prolonged Struggle With DRS

Feb 26, 2017 at 12:13 PM

facebook iconlinkedin iconmail icontwitter iconWhatsApp iconTelegram icon
Opinion: Virat Kohli And His Prolonged Struggle With DRS

Decision Review System is probably the only aspect on-field Virat Kohli is yet to master. He is going through the best phase of his cricketing career in the last couple of years. He scores runs for fun.

Leading his team flawlessly as the Test captain, and recently also got the honour of taking over the reins of limited overs captaincy from Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Nothing seems flawed yet in him.

But for the keen followers who take interest in having a microscopic view on their favourite cricketer, one small yet not so trivial fact might make them feel that Virat needs improvement in his decision-making skills, especially when going for the DRS. The flaw is something affects India pretty badly but in a silent way, to be precise.

A rather amazing stat covered the TV screen in the post-match discussion after the end of day two’s play at the MCA Stadium, Pune. It mentioned Virat’s poor track record as the ‘DRS skipper.’

Out of the 39 DRS calls which he has taken so far in his captaincy career, only nine have been successful while as you guessed 30 were unsuccessful. This obviously wouldn’t please Kohli much and he would be well aware of it.

While Kohli isn’t sub-standard, the skipper can’t continue doing these errors without any self–evaluation. At present only two factors seem to be the core reason behind his failure. One’s could be brought under control while the other could be resolved with better communication with wicket-keeper –Wriddhiman Saha.

Coming to the first reason, it ca be noted that Kohli has never been in a position to take calls on his own. While he is often seen at slips, a majority of times the man is at the point and cover region which makes him too reliant on wicketkeeper and bowler to take a call. Ironically, both individuals involved with the decision with Kohli happen to be attached emotionally to that incident and somehow convince that the decision to refer is fine and would be successful.

Unfortunately, those ‘influenced’ calls have been disastrous almost more than 80 percent of times. A skipper generally should be almost assured if he challenges umpire’s calls and should only turn to the bowler and the wicket-keeper for final confirmation.

In Kohli’s case, he is often seen in a prolonged discussion as if some ‘yes – no’ debates happens.

The other reason would be amateurish wicket-keeper. I apologise for turning my sword towards Wriddhiman Saha, but logically a wicket keeper must be his skipper’s most trusted ally when it comes to DRS. On Almost all occasions, the gloveman is the one who initiates the decision through his confidence. But in Saha’s case, it generally is over excitement. The blame can never be put on the bowler, though.

They are always on a look out for a wicket and would obviously try and do whatever it takes to remove the batsman. Asking the bowler to mellow down would be wrong.

However, the wicketkeeper to think before getting excited would be great improvement he can bring in him as a cricketer overall. While this is no expert’s opinion, as a general follower of the game, these were the two biggest flaws that seem to be hurting Virat Kohli’s decision-making skills.

Related Article
Cricket Confirmed As One Of Five New Sports In Olympics At Los Angeles In 2028
Cricket Confirmed As One Of Five New Sports In Olympics At Los Angeles In 2028

Oct 16, 2023, 2:22 PM


Mumbai’s “Junior Steyn” Karan Tiwari Commits Suicide
Mumbai’s “Junior Steyn” Karan Tiwari Commits Suicide

Aug 12, 2020, 6:02 PM


Rohit Sharma Talks How Cricket Will Be Changed In COVID-19 Pandemic
Rohit Sharma Talks How Cricket Will Be Changed In COVID-19 Pandemic

Aug 3, 2020, 1:41 AM


Five Indian Cricketers Who Invested In Startups!
Five Indian Cricketers Who Invested In Startups!

Aug 2, 2020, 12:00 PM


Five Cricketers And Their Role In Boxing
Five Cricketers And Their Role In Boxing

Aug 2, 2020, 11:00 AM


When Cricketers Left The Ground Due To Nature’s Call
When Cricketers Left The Ground Due To Nature’s Call

Jul 31, 2020, 6:00 PM


Desktop Banner
Mobile Banner