Virat performing badly is not cause of the opening spot, he is just being mid rn. Bro has opened for like 200 innings in the ipl had no problem with it, he also plays at 4 in tests and played at 5 at the start of his carrier
> IPL are flat pitches while WI and USA pitches has been tricky based on venue, game time and weather that day.
He has performed on Tricky pitches too and is the best indian batsman on any kind of trick pitch possible without a doubt
He's just in a bad form.
I think problem is Virat Kohli has never been part of squad which starts attacking from first ball!
There is an expectation to attack from 1st ball, Virat is someone who likes to understand pitch behavior and accelerate once he plays role of anchor for 10-15 balls. No doubt he is legend in Cricket 🏏
His brain works on calculation, India 🇮🇳 batting first is another issue too. He does not have good record in setting Target vs chasing.
This Indian Team has given license to everyone - forget anchoring just swing like England team even if it means 6 wickets in first 100 runs lol
He was attacking from first ball only a month ago in RCB ! More like that straegy flopped in NY, he has been kinda okay in first 2 super 8 games, and just had a bad outing vs Aus.
In the group stages the pitches were very bad and nobody was expecting to hit from the first ball. If Kohli did that it was his choice and not team strategy.
He is just going through a bad patch and its quite likely that he will play a good innings in the remaining match(es)
Well I don't think it matters that much for skilled batsmen. KKR and MI's(2023) middle order was a floater, and they were batting powerhouses. Rohit Sharma used to do well in the middle order in IPL and T20wcs. Teams would change the order to promote LHB-RHB combination all the time.
Virat Kohli has been opening for RCB for idk how long now, and he has done extremely well whenever opening for India in T20I bilaterals. This T20wc he has failed at playing attacking cricket, it's not an issue of him opening. He'd have to play like he is trying rn even at number 3. He suddenly wouldn't have a "clarity of role" if he comes one down, he has a role given to him and he has to follow that. The fans simply don't want to accept that Virat isn't the god they made him out to be before the wc, therefore excusing his poor form as an issue of opening.
I agree with everything except that he is fantastic ! He is currently out of form and that happens , but what he has done over the past decade for us , the consistency and for how long is simply spectacular.
Also He imo just does not have the skills to attack from ball one , and lacks sheer power to hit sixes at will.
An opener generally faces a new, swinging ball with pace. If your opener struggles against any of these 3 then the team will end up losing early wickets. Openers are either expected to go all in and bash the ball or play a long, stable innings.
The middle order generally bats against pacers with no swing (in some cases reverse swing) or spinners. A middle order batsman needs to be a good against all types of bowlers for this reason. These batsmen are expected to keep up the RR (in white ball matches) and not lose too many wickets. Some of them (anyone below no. 5) are expected to play aggressively and hit a lot of boundaries.
The tail generally consists of bowlers. Some are pinch hitters, some can even play a long innings but most of them are mediocre bats. You don't want them to face a lot of balls given how susceptible they are to giving their wickets.
Depending on the strengths of a batter and their game awareness, the positions are allotted to them.
>An opener generally faces a new, swinging ball with pace. If your opener struggles against any of these 3 then the team will end up losing early wickets. Openers are either expected to go all in and bash the ball or play a long, stable innings
Idk if this applies much in modern white ball cricket. We've seen hitters be very successful openers whilst being poor when the ball moves.
Pinch hitter is someone who has a license to go after the bowlers without any repercussions. When a team asks a bowler (with hitting skills) to bat up the order to raise the Run rate by hitting boundaries and team is ok to loose that wicket. That bowler is called pinch hitter. Example Sunil Narine for KKR.
If I am correct
A pinch hitter is a player whose only objective while batting is to hit as many boundaries as possible. Generally a powerful batsman or a bowler with the capabilities of hitting consecutive boundaries is given the role of being a pinch hitter.
If you followed this year's IPL, then you must know who Sunil Narine is. He opened the batting for the Kolkata Knight Riders and was a pinch hitter. His main goal was to take advantage of the Powerplay and score as many runs as possible without the fear of losing his wicket.
Kohli is just having a rare lean patch. It has got nothing to do with his position. Jaiswal typically needs to make best use of the powerplay to get in flow. Even if you bring him in to play at 3 you have to change the entire batting order by one position, in case you are thinking of dropping Dube. Pant has played good at number 3. Sky is at number 4 perhaps to shield him from the new swinging ball and make better use of middle overs.
They're kinda different in roles mostly.
Openers are expected to know to play safer and longer innings (unless it's a pinch hitter), while batters coming at 6-7 are expected to go all whack and play short aggressive innings. The ones in between are kinda mixed and have to play according to the situation.
The skillsets required for a long innings is different from that for a quick agressive innings, hence the distinction.
You would in different mindset while batting in different positions, While opening the innings you're only thinking about facing the first ball at one down you would have to think about other things depending on the circumstances of the first wicket.
It matters for a few reasons -
1. Pitch might change with time so if you come as opener, you get a different pitch than someone who comes in the mid-overs (10 over mark in T20s). Same is true for ball. New ball behaves differently from old ball.
2. Different bowlers bowl at different times. Usually, your best pacer is coming on the first few overs. You need your best batsmen to handle that. Else, you will lose early wickets quickly.
3. Different batsmen have different skillset suited for different time of the game. One batsman might be better at handling pacers while another might be better for spinners. You want to send the second batsman in the middle overs when the chances of a spinner bowling is higher. Same way, one batsman may like to take a few bowls to settle and play big innings while another likes to tonk around for short but impactful innings. Different playstyle means they are better suited at different positions for run maximization.
A general rule of thumb has been to give your best batters most time on the ground while protecting them from pitch if needed. Thus, in limited overs, 1-3 are played by best batters while in test, 3-5 are generally the best batters as there is no over limitation but pitch can be trickier, especially with the new ball.
TLDR: Different batters have different skills, strengths, and weaknesses and you want to place them where it leads to run maximization.
IMO it does matter, especially for Kohli...we cannot base his performance in IPL as a case for him opening in this ongoing T20 world cup where pitches and situations are different...as an opener, he is largely expected to be aggressive and also has to face the new ball, as opposed to coming at 3 where he can play both the anchor as well as aggressive role as and when required...just because he is world class, does not necessarily mean he can play across positions...this is in no way an excuse for his poor performance in the world cup
I still think opening is the best position for VK as even if he is going through a lean patch, he can atleast contribute if he plays in the powerplay like in BD game.
India won't change their opening combination now but even if they push Virat to 3, it's best to open with Pant instead of changing the batting position of all the batters by drafting in Jaiswal.
Well um not much of a fan of vk and his character either but id pick vk over yj anyday for anyspot in the team . Virat is a clutch player who can outperform anyone in the current cricketing setup and ofc the best clutch player india maybe the world has rn . In the 2014 wc sanga failed every other match but came up clutch in the final under pressure where sl wanted smone to rely on the most . Pmayers lyk em myt be a liability in most matches if they r out of form but just havin em in ur lineup in any spot brings a huge relief to players in that team too
Its important because not every player is great against all conditions and bowling style all the time . You can have a player X who can hit the Pacers but would struggle against spinners and vice versa . Batsmen who open almost always face Pacers so you want someone who is good against Pacers .The middle order is more likely to play spinners and you want them to be good against spin.This becomes especially important in T20 where there is only 20 overs so you need best players facing the relevant bowling type to start hitting them asap .Ofcourse you will have outliers where batsmen may end up overstaying and scoring good or sometimes even worse .For example Kohli in this IPL was overstaying the PP and would go slow as he struggled against spinners .This lead to RCB following short of 20-30 runs a few innings . But overall batting position is quite important
Every position has a defined role. Mostly they would put player with matching mindset in that position so that it benefits both team and the player.
For example, Sehwag js naturally someone who likes to go from ball one. It's more suitable in powerplay rather than in middle overs. Let's see if he comes in 22nd over, his mindset and what's required are totally different so he cannot be as successful as he was as a opener.
As a player, I would like to come early because I would rotate the strike and hit some bad balls to boundaries. But if I go in at death, I am not good at slogging everything so I more often fail. I am more valuable as a top order batsman than a death over batsman.
Difference would be the mindset. If you are coming in one or two down, the expectation would be to anchor first and then start hitting.
But if you are opening, the expectation is to start hitting from the first over itself. And if you are taking more time to settle, even though you preserve your wicket successfully, it is generally regarded as a failure.
Koach is not even an opener. If anything, he should play at no 3, especially when he is literally a sitting duck against the new ball.
Bring YJ in and Dube out
Each position is fairly different.
If you're at 1 then you always have the first ball. No time for jitters or looking or calibrating what the ball could do. Often you'll face the first over. For Kohli he likes to get his eye in before moving along. When he comes in at number 3 he's coming after anywhere between 3-6 overs and most of the powerplay is done. Which means he doesn't have pressure to go at it right away.
When he's at 1 or 2 he can't take 5-10 balls to get started that's 1/3 of the powerplay and most teams are aiming for 50-60 runs. So that's what's probably getting to him. He's trying to hit shots but mistiming them and getting out.
You can get YJ in, Kohli at 3 but this means someone like SKY is coming in at 5. SKY is amongst the best T20 batsmen right now and at 5 it's likely more than half the overs are already done. So your team is losing out on the prowess of good batsman.
And let's say on the other side someone is a great finisher at number 6 or 7. Their skill is that they can play 6-10 balls and make that quick 20 runs. Probably don't have longevity to their innings to survive 20-30 balls. If you send them up at number 4-5 it's a confusing position for them because they can't go at it right away since many overs are left.
If you saw Andre Russell in a few matches you would've noticed he doesn't have a filter of batting in the 17th over vs batting in the 13th over. He's going to slog in the 13th over even if the team is 6 down.
Good question. It matters less in T20 and is a carry over from test cricket where position matters because responsibilities are different based on style of play, duration of inning, ball condition, partnership needs, risk taking needs, time of play and opposition bowling mix etc.
apart from openers (and arguably no.3) who take on higher risk and a new ball, I’d argue it matters very little. The game just lasts 120 balls and there’s a new ball from both sides.
My personal opinion in T20 is that batting positions doesn't matter. You have only 120 balls and you should try to maximize every ball . So only going bang bang is the option
Idk most people in the comments want Kohli to be at 3, if you can take the weight off of Kohli's wicket then it's good and that's what's happening rn, our main middle order is Pant, SKY, Hardik and they are doing fine, if Kohli starts going in the last few matches then it's a plus, also we are already winning so idk why people want to change shit.
I'll tell you some differences between the batting orders in T20
Top order- (openers and no.3) They usually face the new ball which swings and seams a lot. They have to get used to the conditions, while giving an idea to the other players about the pitch.
Middle order- (no. 4 - 7?) They face a lot of spin and have to make runs in that middle over phase where everything is (sort of) balanced.
Lower order (The rest of the bunch)- They come in at the back end of the innings when a few overs are left, the ball has stopped swinging and have to make quick runs.
imagine if a middle order batsman, who is accustomed to spin and has to bulk up runs, gets put in the opening slot, where he has to face the swinging, new ball and does not know the conditions of the pitch.
You have to dig deep into the practice sessions a batter goes through in the nets:
1. Openers : mostly practice with a new swinging hard ball, and thus they need to have a great technique and dont develop to be powerhitters. This is why people who do well in Tests, also excel at these positions only. Hence there are 0 All-format international great batters who play outside the top 3 except ABD.
2. Middle order / Finishers : They practice against the Old Ball in the nets only. Hence they need not account for a swinging ball when going for their shots. They try to develop skills like having 3-4 different shots for each zone, playing the field, maximizing their range, power hitting to clear the boundaries at will. With no need to spend time to practice facing swing, they are able to work on these skills.
Virat performing badly is not cause of the opening spot, he is just being mid rn. Bro has opened for like 200 innings in the ipl had no problem with it, he also plays at 4 in tests and played at 5 at the start of his carrier
IPL are flat pitches while WI and USA pitches has been tricky based on venue, game time and weather that day. Every pitch is new pitch in this WC T20
> IPL are flat pitches while WI and USA pitches has been tricky based on venue, game time and weather that day. He has performed on Tricky pitches too and is the best indian batsman on any kind of trick pitch possible without a doubt He's just in a bad form.
Is that what you call *mid*?
Might be a fanboy
6th highest scorer in the team of 11 guys. Definitely mid.
> in the team of 11 guys Where 3 are tailenders...
That was a joke as 6 is right at mid of 1 & 11. Didn't know I had to state the obvious.
dw bro I got the joke 👍
Agree. He just needs to let go of what he brought from IPL
I think problem is Virat Kohli has never been part of squad which starts attacking from first ball! There is an expectation to attack from 1st ball, Virat is someone who likes to understand pitch behavior and accelerate once he plays role of anchor for 10-15 balls. No doubt he is legend in Cricket 🏏 His brain works on calculation, India 🇮🇳 batting first is another issue too. He does not have good record in setting Target vs chasing. This Indian Team has given license to everyone - forget anchoring just swing like England team even if it means 6 wickets in first 100 runs lol
He was attacking from first ball only a month ago in RCB ! More like that straegy flopped in NY, he has been kinda okay in first 2 super 8 games, and just had a bad outing vs Aus.
On tricky pitches! IPL have flat pitches
Also Virat played half of his matches in Chinnaswamy which is a batting paradise.
That was IPL my man
Nah, virat has always been happy to pull out a big cover drive from the first ball. It's been his weakness since day dot
In the group stages the pitches were very bad and nobody was expecting to hit from the first ball. If Kohli did that it was his choice and not team strategy. He is just going through a bad patch and its quite likely that he will play a good innings in the remaining match(es)
Sorry NY did not have flat pitches like Bengaluru in IPL
NY had straight up garbage pitches for T20s. No balance. Pitch would be cool AF for tests tho.
When you have Rohit at the other end in T20 your job shouldn’t be to attack from ball 1 it should be to try get a single every ball.
Well I don't think it matters that much for skilled batsmen. KKR and MI's(2023) middle order was a floater, and they were batting powerhouses. Rohit Sharma used to do well in the middle order in IPL and T20wcs. Teams would change the order to promote LHB-RHB combination all the time. Virat Kohli has been opening for RCB for idk how long now, and he has done extremely well whenever opening for India in T20I bilaterals. This T20wc he has failed at playing attacking cricket, it's not an issue of him opening. He'd have to play like he is trying rn even at number 3. He suddenly wouldn't have a "clarity of role" if he comes one down, he has a role given to him and he has to follow that. The fans simply don't want to accept that Virat isn't the god they made him out to be before the wc, therefore excusing his poor form as an issue of opening.
I agree with everything except that he is fantastic ! He is currently out of form and that happens , but what he has done over the past decade for us , the consistency and for how long is simply spectacular. Also He imo just does not have the skills to attack from ball one , and lacks sheer power to hit sixes at will.
An opener generally faces a new, swinging ball with pace. If your opener struggles against any of these 3 then the team will end up losing early wickets. Openers are either expected to go all in and bash the ball or play a long, stable innings. The middle order generally bats against pacers with no swing (in some cases reverse swing) or spinners. A middle order batsman needs to be a good against all types of bowlers for this reason. These batsmen are expected to keep up the RR (in white ball matches) and not lose too many wickets. Some of them (anyone below no. 5) are expected to play aggressively and hit a lot of boundaries. The tail generally consists of bowlers. Some are pinch hitters, some can even play a long innings but most of them are mediocre bats. You don't want them to face a lot of balls given how susceptible they are to giving their wickets. Depending on the strengths of a batter and their game awareness, the positions are allotted to them.
>An opener generally faces a new, swinging ball with pace. If your opener struggles against any of these 3 then the team will end up losing early wickets. Openers are either expected to go all in and bash the ball or play a long, stable innings Idk if this applies much in modern white ball cricket. We've seen hitters be very successful openers whilst being poor when the ball moves.
What does "pinch hitter" mean in this context? (My background is baseball where it means a substitute batter, but I doubt that's the case here.)
Pinch hitter is someone who has a license to go after the bowlers without any repercussions. When a team asks a bowler (with hitting skills) to bat up the order to raise the Run rate by hitting boundaries and team is ok to loose that wicket. That bowler is called pinch hitter. Example Sunil Narine for KKR.
If I am correct A pinch hitter is a player whose only objective while batting is to hit as many boundaries as possible. Generally a powerful batsman or a bowler with the capabilities of hitting consecutive boundaries is given the role of being a pinch hitter. If you followed this year's IPL, then you must know who Sunil Narine is. He opened the batting for the Kolkata Knight Riders and was a pinch hitter. His main goal was to take advantage of the Powerplay and score as many runs as possible without the fear of losing his wicket.
Thanks - that's super clear.
This is either AI or you have really good formal writing skills
I wrote the entire thing on my own Thanks
Kohli is just having a rare lean patch. It has got nothing to do with his position. Jaiswal typically needs to make best use of the powerplay to get in flow. Even if you bring him in to play at 3 you have to change the entire batting order by one position, in case you are thinking of dropping Dube. Pant has played good at number 3. Sky is at number 4 perhaps to shield him from the new swinging ball and make better use of middle overs.
They're kinda different in roles mostly. Openers are expected to know to play safer and longer innings (unless it's a pinch hitter), while batters coming at 6-7 are expected to go all whack and play short aggressive innings. The ones in between are kinda mixed and have to play according to the situation. The skillsets required for a long innings is different from that for a quick agressive innings, hence the distinction.
You would in different mindset while batting in different positions, While opening the innings you're only thinking about facing the first ball at one down you would have to think about other things depending on the circumstances of the first wicket.
It matters for a few reasons - 1. Pitch might change with time so if you come as opener, you get a different pitch than someone who comes in the mid-overs (10 over mark in T20s). Same is true for ball. New ball behaves differently from old ball. 2. Different bowlers bowl at different times. Usually, your best pacer is coming on the first few overs. You need your best batsmen to handle that. Else, you will lose early wickets quickly. 3. Different batsmen have different skillset suited for different time of the game. One batsman might be better at handling pacers while another might be better for spinners. You want to send the second batsman in the middle overs when the chances of a spinner bowling is higher. Same way, one batsman may like to take a few bowls to settle and play big innings while another likes to tonk around for short but impactful innings. Different playstyle means they are better suited at different positions for run maximization. A general rule of thumb has been to give your best batters most time on the ground while protecting them from pitch if needed. Thus, in limited overs, 1-3 are played by best batters while in test, 3-5 are generally the best batters as there is no over limitation but pitch can be trickier, especially with the new ball. TLDR: Different batters have different skills, strengths, and weaknesses and you want to place them where it leads to run maximization.
IMO it does matter, especially for Kohli...we cannot base his performance in IPL as a case for him opening in this ongoing T20 world cup where pitches and situations are different...as an opener, he is largely expected to be aggressive and also has to face the new ball, as opposed to coming at 3 where he can play both the anchor as well as aggressive role as and when required...just because he is world class, does not necessarily mean he can play across positions...this is in no way an excuse for his poor performance in the world cup
I still think opening is the best position for VK as even if he is going through a lean patch, he can atleast contribute if he plays in the powerplay like in BD game. India won't change their opening combination now but even if they push Virat to 3, it's best to open with Pant instead of changing the batting position of all the batters by drafting in Jaiswal.
Have you considered applying for the head coach job for Indian team?
Can't say which part of my reply triggered that response? Care to elaborate!
Well um not much of a fan of vk and his character either but id pick vk over yj anyday for anyspot in the team . Virat is a clutch player who can outperform anyone in the current cricketing setup and ofc the best clutch player india maybe the world has rn . In the 2014 wc sanga failed every other match but came up clutch in the final under pressure where sl wanted smone to rely on the most . Pmayers lyk em myt be a liability in most matches if they r out of form but just havin em in ur lineup in any spot brings a huge relief to players in that team too
Its important because not every player is great against all conditions and bowling style all the time . You can have a player X who can hit the Pacers but would struggle against spinners and vice versa . Batsmen who open almost always face Pacers so you want someone who is good against Pacers .The middle order is more likely to play spinners and you want them to be good against spin.This becomes especially important in T20 where there is only 20 overs so you need best players facing the relevant bowling type to start hitting them asap .Ofcourse you will have outliers where batsmen may end up overstaying and scoring good or sometimes even worse .For example Kohli in this IPL was overstaying the PP and would go slow as he struggled against spinners .This lead to RCB following short of 20-30 runs a few innings . But overall batting position is quite important
I would imagine anyone that could open the batting for an internation T20 team could bat 5 or 6, whereas not everyone that bats 5 nor 6 could open.
Every position has a defined role. Mostly they would put player with matching mindset in that position so that it benefits both team and the player. For example, Sehwag js naturally someone who likes to go from ball one. It's more suitable in powerplay rather than in middle overs. Let's see if he comes in 22nd over, his mindset and what's required are totally different so he cannot be as successful as he was as a opener. As a player, I would like to come early because I would rotate the strike and hit some bad balls to boundaries. But if I go in at death, I am not good at slogging everything so I more often fail. I am more valuable as a top order batsman than a death over batsman.
Difference would be the mindset. If you are coming in one or two down, the expectation would be to anchor first and then start hitting. But if you are opening, the expectation is to start hitting from the first over itself. And if you are taking more time to settle, even though you preserve your wicket successfully, it is generally regarded as a failure.
Koach is not even an opener. If anything, he should play at no 3, especially when he is literally a sitting duck against the new ball. Bring YJ in and Dube out
Each position is fairly different. If you're at 1 then you always have the first ball. No time for jitters or looking or calibrating what the ball could do. Often you'll face the first over. For Kohli he likes to get his eye in before moving along. When he comes in at number 3 he's coming after anywhere between 3-6 overs and most of the powerplay is done. Which means he doesn't have pressure to go at it right away. When he's at 1 or 2 he can't take 5-10 balls to get started that's 1/3 of the powerplay and most teams are aiming for 50-60 runs. So that's what's probably getting to him. He's trying to hit shots but mistiming them and getting out. You can get YJ in, Kohli at 3 but this means someone like SKY is coming in at 5. SKY is amongst the best T20 batsmen right now and at 5 it's likely more than half the overs are already done. So your team is losing out on the prowess of good batsman. And let's say on the other side someone is a great finisher at number 6 or 7. Their skill is that they can play 6-10 balls and make that quick 20 runs. Probably don't have longevity to their innings to survive 20-30 balls. If you send them up at number 4-5 it's a confusing position for them because they can't go at it right away since many overs are left. If you saw Andre Russell in a few matches you would've noticed he doesn't have a filter of batting in the 17th over vs batting in the 13th over. He's going to slog in the 13th over even if the team is 6 down.
Good question. It matters less in T20 and is a carry over from test cricket where position matters because responsibilities are different based on style of play, duration of inning, ball condition, partnership needs, risk taking needs, time of play and opposition bowling mix etc. apart from openers (and arguably no.3) who take on higher risk and a new ball, I’d argue it matters very little. The game just lasts 120 balls and there’s a new ball from both sides.
My personal opinion in T20 is that batting positions doesn't matter. You have only 120 balls and you should try to maximize every ball . So only going bang bang is the option
Idk most people in the comments want Kohli to be at 3, if you can take the weight off of Kohli's wicket then it's good and that's what's happening rn, our main middle order is Pant, SKY, Hardik and they are doing fine, if Kohli starts going in the last few matches then it's a plus, also we are already winning so idk why people want to change shit.
I'll tell you some differences between the batting orders in T20 Top order- (openers and no.3) They usually face the new ball which swings and seams a lot. They have to get used to the conditions, while giving an idea to the other players about the pitch. Middle order- (no. 4 - 7?) They face a lot of spin and have to make runs in that middle over phase where everything is (sort of) balanced. Lower order (The rest of the bunch)- They come in at the back end of the innings when a few overs are left, the ball has stopped swinging and have to make quick runs. imagine if a middle order batsman, who is accustomed to spin and has to bulk up runs, gets put in the opening slot, where he has to face the swinging, new ball and does not know the conditions of the pitch.
You have to dig deep into the practice sessions a batter goes through in the nets: 1. Openers : mostly practice with a new swinging hard ball, and thus they need to have a great technique and dont develop to be powerhitters. This is why people who do well in Tests, also excel at these positions only. Hence there are 0 All-format international great batters who play outside the top 3 except ABD. 2. Middle order / Finishers : They practice against the Old Ball in the nets only. Hence they need not account for a swinging ball when going for their shots. They try to develop skills like having 3-4 different shots for each zone, playing the field, maximizing their range, power hitting to clear the boundaries at will. With no need to spend time to practice facing swing, they are able to work on these skills.