Indian Premier League - General Discussion

[Bigby Wolf]

For t20 cricket, I'd definitely agree Kohli's prime at t20 level was 2016, but he has slowly fallen away. I think there are much better t20 batsman in terms of strike rotation or consistent power hitting, that would be:
1. Warner
2. Finch
3. Babar Azam
4. Maxwell
5. KL Rahul

Rohit and KL might be a bit of a bold choice but the others, I'm sticking with.

Babar Azam .

He has a strike rate of 119 in T20s and 127 in T20Is.

And No Buttler ? You kidding right why not put Smith or Marsh brothers to complete your list of top 5 batsmen.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Finch and Babar Azam are not even on the same planet as Kohli. Finch is the worst Aussie captain I have seen in two and a half decades of watching Aussie cricket. Regard it as the biggest honour in cricket and I am still amazed he holds that spot.

 

[Jalen]

Babar Azam .

He has a strike rate of 119 in T20s and 127 in T20Is.

And No Buttler ? You kidding right why not put Smith or Marsh brothers to complete your list of top 5 batsmen.

I was debating between kl and buttler, I went with kl cause I didn't want to trigger any Indian fans

 

[Jalen]

Finch and Babar Azam are not even on the same planet as Kohli. Finch is the worst Aussie captain I have seen in two and a half decades of watching Aussie cricket. Regard it as the biggest honour in cricket and I am still amazed he holds that spot.

Look at Kohli's captaincy compared to when a Dhoni isn't on the same team, even for rcb he makes all the wrong decisions. Without Dhoni he is a horrible captain.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

I was debating between kl and butler, I went with kl cause I didn't want to trigger any Indian fans

I don't care if you put a Indian on your little list or whatever you want to call but to have players like Azam and Finch ahead of Russell , Buttler or other better players available is an absolute joke when T20 format is considered.[DOUBLEPOST=1555765874][/DOUBLEPOST]

Look at Kohli's captaincy compared to when a Dhoni isn't on the same team, even for rcb he makes all the wrong decisions. Without Dhoni he is a horrible captain.

Geez! We are talking about batting not captaincy.

Anyways I am done with you.

 

[Jalen]

I don't care if you put a Indian on your little list or whatever you want to call but to have players like Azam and Finch ahead of Russell , Buttler or other better players available is an absolute joke when T20 format is considered.[DOUBLEPOST=1555765874][/DOUBLEPOST]
Geez! We are talking about batting not captaincy.

Anyways I am done with you.

Someone literally brought up Finch's captaincy, that is the reason I brought up Kohli's captaincy. shows that you are completely oblivious to the fact that he is a mediocre captain and is only rated because of his batting. Russell, Evin Lewis and Buttler are all rated extremely highly but besides Finch's slump of bad form recently, he has been the ranked no.1 t20 batsman for a long time

 

[Targaryen]

Someone literally brought up Finch's captaincy, that is the reason I brought up Kohli's captaincy. shows that you are completely oblivious to the fact that he is a mediocre captain and is only rated because of his batting. Russell, Evin Lewis and Buttler are all rated extremely highly but besides Finch's slump of bad form recently, he has been the ranked no.1 t20 batsman for a long time

Okay.

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Someone literally brought up Finch's captaincy, that is the reason I brought up Kohli's captaincy. shows that you are completely oblivious to the fact that he is a mediocre captain and is only rated because of his batting. Russell, Evin Lewis and Buttler are all rated extremely highly but besides Finch's slump of bad form recently, he has been the ranked no.1 t20 batsman for a long time

Well fair enough didn't read what Kushal aka LiveloveAbd wrote.

And just read my posts about Kohli's captaincy in this or other Indian matches in the forum(If your are not being OBLIVIOUS across the discussions forum) have been saying about his leadership skills or how he leads his troops for last few years now.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Well fair enough didn't read what Kushal aka LiveloveAbd wrote.

And just read my posts about Kohli's captaincy in this or other Indian matches in the forum(If your are not being OBLIVIOUS across the discussions forum) have been saying about his leadership skills or how he leads his troops for last few years now.

The reason I mentioned what I did is that Kohli on performance can captain India. Finch's performances don't warrant him as captain, and certainly not captain of a country as rich in cricket heritage as Australia.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Some miserable captaincy from Sharma in that last game. I didn't get the logic of saving Bumrah's 2 overs with the game gone. It's very identical to asking Russell to chase 15-16 RPO!

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

His Captaincy has been below par in last 2 seasons. He let the match slip away quite easily every now and then. He has been taking the game till the end just to lose it. A little bit more aggressive intent has to be there if you are Captaining in this format. I was quite surprised not to see a short mid-wicket when Smith was batting against Rahul Chahar and Mayank Markhande considering that's his strongest area and over and above both these bowlers bowl short of length. And again in the last over all fielders were standing on the boundary line and no one available at fine-leg that too when Malinga was bowling

I know I would be criticized over this point that I would be making but I found out Kohli to be a better leader when it comes to having a well-balanced side than Rohit. To be fair Rohit has only won against weaker sides in International Cricket while IPL he just has a very good team with the best coaching staff in the world so this is creating a bit of a dilema in the minds of few that Rohit is a better Captain than Kohli but the fact is both are at par. Ashwin is actually a Captain who has impressed me in the T20 format. I think Virat is pretty much decent in ODIs and actually a good Captain in Tests which people aren't actually noticing it. The problem with India is not the Captain but the coach and the selectors. Only thing is Kohli isn't well equipped with the T20 format so I would suggest to bring back Ashwin in T20Is and make him the Captain

 

[LiveLoveABD]

I was debating between kl and buttler, I went with kl cause I didn't want to trigger any Indian fans

At this point, Jos > KL. I'm a KL Rahul fan, and after AB, he is the one I enjoy watching most.

But, facts are facts.[DOUBLEPOST=1555777255][/DOUBLEPOST]My admiration for Ashwin is renowned on this board, but I feel he missed a trick today by not batting at 4. The situation was made for him and I know I'll be butchered for saying this but he's a better player of spin than Miller is.

 

[Aalay]

For t20 cricket, I'd definitely agree Kohli's prime at t20 level was 2016, but he has slowly fallen away.

See that is where you are mistaken. It's just that Kohli was so good in T20's in 2016 that people often forget that he hasn't played much T20 international cricket after that.

I think there are much better t20 batsman in terms of strike rotation or consistent power hitting, that would be:
1. Warner
2. Finch
3. Babar Azam
4. Maxwell
5. KL Rahul

If you are taking strike rotation in contention, the only player from that list which can come even close to Virat is Warner. Finch is horrible at strike rotation, Maxwell, Babar, KL are decent when it comes to strike rotation. However as I said, I don't think there are any players who are better than Kohli and Warner when it comes to strike rotation.

If you are putting Babar Azam in the list over Kohli in terms of power hitting, it either means you haven't Kohli bat or you haven't watched Babar bat. Babar does not have power game and that is the reason he mostly opens the inning for Pakistan. He is the accumulator who will try to bat till the end and therefore you see that he is striking only at 119.

Even though Warner started his career as a power hitter and he was pretty good at it. Over the years I feel, he has turned himself into that player who takes the responsibility to bat all the way. He has done that at least in the IPL but hasn't shown that international stage.

Kohli and KL Rahul are not power hitters, they rely on timing. However unlike Babar, they both have power game and they have the ability to clear boundary whenever they want.

Consistent power hitting is where Finch and Maxwell will definitely will be ahead of Kohli because as I just mentioned Kohli is not a power hitter even though he has developed his power game pretty well over the years.

In the end, I guess it depends on what kind of batsman you are looking for or you want in your line-up. I will definitely take someone like Kohli over any of those players that you have mentioned in your list just because of the sheer consistency that he has shown and still striking at a pretty decent rate. The only other batsmen I would debate to take over him might be Warner but as I said, Warner hasn't shown the same game at international level that he has shown at the IPL as of yet.

 

[Bevab]

Moeen Ali was a deserved MOM yesterday. Indian batters have all fallen into this trap of setting up for a biggie. Kohli had become a dominating T20 bat and has now fallen back into his old shell. This media generated codswallop of set up and then attack is absolute rubbish. Kohli has 5 hundreds in how many IPL games? 150? The T20 template is changing and India is falling way behind, or should I say, the established Indian batters are falling way behind. If you just see the games, I think bar Pant and Pandya, no one strikes me as someone who can strike it at 150+ Most Indian batsmen are hovering between 120-130. I think that's a worry and probably the main reason I would have liked to have taken Pant to the WC.

Completely agree with this. And to make matters worse, I hear commentators (both on Dugout and the regular channel) say that Pant must be there at the end and finish games, taking his time in the beginning. A batsman who plays at 4 isn't supposed to be your finisher ffs. You've got two more batsmen and an all-rounder after him usually who are supposed to be the ones who finish games. I'd be happy if he makes a 30+ score at his usual 150+ strike rate rather than plod along and 'finish' it at the end.

I'd also say that the ODI template is changing, and it's pretty unlikely that India would ever have a team filled with 2 players who'd be happy with a 70 from 50 rather than one player who scores 140 from 135 balls on average, as long as literally everyone associated with Indian cricket believes in the notion of batsmen taking their sweet time to settle in, and go big only at the end.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

See that is where you are mistaken. It's just that Kohli was so good in T20's in 2016 that people often forget that he hasn't played much T20 international cricket after that.


Consistent power hitting is where Finch and Maxwell will definitely will be ahead of Kohli because as I just mentioned Kohli is not a power hitter even though he has developed his power game pretty well over the years.

I will take you up on that. Finch can't save his life for hitting biggies once the PP is over. Put a quality spinner on and Finch is clueless.