IND vs SA 2019: Virat Kohli Comments on Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer Miscommunication Regarding No.4

The third T20I game brought some surprises with it in Bangalore on Sunday where South Africa registered an easy win over India. With this win, they equalled the three-match series 1-1. This all started with the decision of Virat Kohli to bat first after winning the toss on a venue that is known for chasing. However, this was not the end as South Africa bowlers managed to restrict India with their economical bowling.

Just when Shikhar Dhawan was timing the ball well, he got dismissed by Tabraiz Shamsi and the “miscommunication” between Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer nearly saw both the players walking out to bat at the same time. However, Pant later joined his captain at the number four position.

“The batting coach had a word with both of them. There was a misunderstanding over who has to go at what stage,” Kohli said. “It was a little funny as well afterwards because they both wanted to walk in. So it would have been very funny if both reached the pitch, you know three batsmen in the field.”

When Virat Kohli was asked about it at the post-match press conference he referred to it as miscommunication. He further added that there were plans according to the situation but both the youngsters get confused at that moment.

“I think after 10 overs what we had decided was that Rishabh would walk in, and before that, Shreyas had to walk in. But I think both of them got confused and didn’t realise who has to walk in at what stage of the game,” Kolhi said.

However, Kohli’s bold move to bat first to test the batting depth went in vain as India showed a pretty dismal performance. On the other hand, the South Africa captain Quinton de Kock led from the front, scoring an unbeaten 79 and took his side to the finish line with 3.1 overs to spare.

“Exactly what we wanted to do and that’s going to be the template we’ll follow for games we have before the World Cup (on opting to bat after winning the toss). The mindset has to be flexible and to try out things when situations are stacked against us. We will have games like this where we don’t execute what we want. But as long as the intent is there to improve, we’ll be in a good zone,” he told.

India’s captain also praised the South African bowlers for their economical bowling and said that they failed to read the pitch. He further shared that T20 is different from One Day as the bowlers don’t get time to come back. On the other hand, a partnership of 40-50 can take the game away from the opponent.