The ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2016 has witnessed plenty of unexpected or strange decisions throughout the tournament. The shortest format of the game is known for these dramatic moments from the captains and the team managements which often leaves us scrathing our heads.
The T20 format is not only entertaining because of its fast nature but also because of the bold and unexpected decisions that the captains take. In the inaugural edition of the tournament back in 2007, Indian skipper MS Dhoni brought the inexperienced Joginder Sharma to bowl the last over in the final against arch-rivals Pakistan instead of Harbhajan Singh. It was a huge gamble on his part but it paid off in the end.
The T20 format demands a different approach and the game plan changes at every juncture of a match. That is where a captain earns his money. Here is our list of five strange and unexpected decisions taken by the captains and the team management in the sixth edition of the ICC World T20 in India.
#1 MS Dhoni threw the ball to Virat Kohli to bowl the last over against West Indies
MS Dhoni is known for taking strange decisions on the field whether it be regarding field placings or bringing part-timers into the frame at crunch moments. The thing with Dhoni is that he never fails to surprise the opposition and more often than not his gambles pays off.
In the semi-final of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2016, Dhoni threw the ball to Virat Kohli in the last over of the match while his go-to bowler Ravichandran Ashwin still had 2 overs left. West Indies only needed 8 runs to win the match with 7 wickets remaining. However, he opted to go with the slow-medium bowling of Virat Kohli.
Kohli did not bowled in the entire tournament and rolled his arm for the first time in that match only and was successful to get Jhonson Charles out on the first delivery but could not finish it off in the last over as West Indies won the match by 7 wickets and 2 balls to spare.
#2 Steven Smith did not use spinners against India
In Australia’s last group match against India which was a virtual quarter-final, India was chasing Australia’s 160 in a comparatively slow Mohali track where the Indian spinners were successful to slow down Australia’s run-rate.
Australian captain Steven Smith did not bowl out his premium spinner Adam Zampa and part-time off-spinner Glenn Maxwell. He rather opted to go with the fast bowlers.It was a strange decision in the circumstances because Zampa had only given away 11 runs in his two overs while Maxwell was also impressive with his off-spins.
Zampa was impressive throughout the tournament, picking up 5 wickets in his previous 4 matches. The youngster was also very tight with his line and length and it was a very strange decision on Smith’s behalf to not use him for his quota of four overs.
#3 New Zealand left out their premium fast bowlers in the match against India
The New Zealand team management and captain Kane Williamson pulled one over everyone in the tournament opener against India at Nagpur. The Kiwis elected to pick only one of their fast bowlers in the starting XI in the form of Adam Milne and surprised all by keeping both Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi in the eleven.
They left out the likes of Tim Southee and Trent Boult, who was instrumental in New Zealand’s World Cup campaign where they were finished as runner-ups. They not only left them out, they also brought in two spinners against a sub-continent side in the form of Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi.
Both of the spinners were relatively new comers but on that day, it proved to be a master stock from the Kiwi captain. The star-studded Indian batting line-up crumbled in front of the two young Kiwi spinners as they collectively picked up 7 wickets among them and bowled out India for only 79 runs.
Mashrafe Mortaza bowling only one over against Australia
The Bangladesh team went through a lot of lows in the tournament. Be it the shocking 1 run defeat at the hands of India or losing two of their premium bowlers to an ICC ban. After the shocking and in some sense humiliating defeat against India they clahed against Australia at Bangalore.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza, who is also the spearhead of the Bangladeshi pace attack, surprisinly bowled only one over while defending 156 against Australia. The decision was extremely surprising as the bowlers he used instead of him went for plenty.
Though Mortaza bowled the first over of the Australian innings where he gave away 9 runs, he did not come back to bowl again. Instead, he used part-timer Mahmudullah (0-22 in 2 overs) and spinner Saqlain Sajib also gave away 40 runs in his 3.3 overs.
Dale Steyn featured in only two of South Africa’s group matches
South Africa did not use the most lethal fast bowler of the world in two of their group matches and ended up being eliminated from the tournament. Dale Steyn played only two matches in the ICC T20 World Cup 2016 and found himself sitting in the dugout for the other two.
Steyn played in South Africa’s tournament opener against England where the Proteas suffered a 2 wicket loss as England chased down a mammoth target of 230. The Soth African pacer only bowled two overs and went for 35, subsequently getting benched for the next match against Afghanistan.
Steyn also missed the third match against West Indies which was a must win game for the Proteas. They lost the match by 3 wickets and virtually found themselves out of the tournament.
However, Steyn featured in South Africa’s last group match against Sri Lanka, picking up a solitary wicket in South Africa’s 8 wicket victory over the Lankans. It was a pretty strange decision from the South African team management to bench their best bowler in a global tournament.
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