5 rookie mistakes that captain Virat Kohli could avoid

#2 Long on-Long off-Deep Point-Deep midwicket

Virat Kohli loves to have a deep point

Modern day captains go for in-out fields in Test cricket, and Kohli who is an attacking captain seemed likely that he would deviate from this pattern. However, almost anomalously, he is also currently following the same trend.

The biggest surprise was when he let a terribly out-of-form Ben Duckett get away from the strike in the second Test, despite the batsman being a walking wicket for spinners, by giving him a long-on. This prompted Nasser Hussain on air to wonder if he is switched on during those moments.

Kohli saw the benefits of keeping the field up when a well-set Joe Root played a rash shot and gifted his wicket to Ravichandran Ashwin in the second Test in Vizag, the moment long off was brought up.

Nevertheless, Kohli prefers fielders in the deep. However, inexplicably, even in Mohali, where England were in a spot of bother in their second innings losing quick wickets after starting with a deficit of 134 runs, Kohli went for fielders in the deep.

In fact, the massive partnership between Moeen Ali and Joe Root in the first Test at Rajkot was largely because Kohli offered too many easy singles very early in their innings, despite India picking up quick wickets and putting England under pressure.

Kohli particularly likes a deep point which is necessary when spinners often drop it short. None of India’s three spinners – Ashwin, Jayant Yadav and Jadeja – looked like they lacked control in the second and third Tests.

In such a scenario, a deep point only offers the batsmen an easy single off a good ball, leaking the pressure and preventing the bowler from bowling six balls to the same batsman. Sometimes, that boundary is worth giving away, if it lets a bowler attack just the one batsman.