IPL 2019: What is wrong with Virat Kohli's captaincy?

With yet another savage display of batting by Andre Russell, KKR registered their third win in four games and handed RCB their fifth straight loss. No matter what, RCB seem to find ways to lose and this time it was their inability to contain a rampaging Russell that cost them the game.

With 53 needed off the final three overs, KKR managed to win with 5 balls to spare. Siraj, after bowling two dot balls to Russell bowled his second beamer and had to be taken out of the attack. Stoinis was hit for 2 sixes and it was followed by a 29-run over off Southee when 30 runs were needed off 12 balls. 2 catches were dropped in the course of KKR's innings and those mistakes too had an impact on the outcome.

Andre Russell takes KKR home yet again with a 13-ball 48* (Pic courtesy: iplt20.com/BCCI)

Now the question arises, is it fair to blame only the bowlers and fielders for not being able to defend such a huge total? The answer is a clear NO and here is why:

KKR bowled 14 overs of spin with an economy of just above 8, while the remaining 6 overs bowled by 3 pacers leaked 99 runs. That itself was enough to suggest the nature of the pitch and in fact put the home side a bit ahead considering the options they had.

Looking down at the bowling card for the RCB we see the overs of spinners were bowled at an economy slightly above 6. Defending a total of 205, with spinners giving away only 6 runs per over and having three spinners in the lineup it is difficult to imagine a team losing. But RCB once again found a way to lose and this time, it was captain Kohli's inability to react to the match situation that played a major role in the defeat.

The first innings showing signs of the pitch assisting spin was good enough for any captain to utilize all his spinners to the fullest. But Kohli persisted with his copybook style of captaincy and did not adapt to the game situation. Negi, a left-arm spinner, was not brought on until the tenth over, despite two right-handers, Lynn and Uthappa, at the crease. The left-armer turned out to be the best bowler for the home side, and it was shocking to see his quota of overs not being completed.

Moeen Ali, who was made to bowl on tracks which were relatively less helpful to spin, was completely overlooked on this track. Moeen has shown his effectiveness on helpful pitches in the past and would have loved to bowl on such a track. Bringing on Moeen as soon as Rana came in to bat might have turned the game in RCB's favour drastically.

Pawan Negi was the best bowler on display for RCB

Having 12 overs of spin in the lineup and bowling 7 of them was a blunder. More so, when those 7 overs went for 45 runs, defending 206. The only good way Kohli used his spinners was keeping some of their overs for the last 7-8 overs.

But then, with his pacers getting hammered all over the park even before the arrival of Russell, why did Kohli not use Moeen Ali puts a question mark on his match awareness as a captain. The question becomes more grave as it happened even after seeing the trend in the first innings.

In no way it can be said that the result would have been different had Kohli's decisions were better on the field, Russell might have still taken his side home, but the fact that Kohli is yet to find better ways to react to match situations even after captaining RCB for 6 years is a matter of grave concern.

Bowlers did not execute well at the death, they were miserable to be fair, and fielders dropped catches. But that was all about execution. The inability of the skipper to adapt to the situation was a strategic error. Execution can go wrong at times, but if you are strategically so wrong, you will lose more matches than not, especially in an unforgivable format. After being guilty of poor team selections, Kohli did well on that front this time, but failed to utilize the resources to its potential.