ENG v IND 2018: "Virat Kohli's dismissal was game changing," believes Yuzvendra Chahal

Virat was looking in good touch before losing his wicket to Moeen Ali in second ODI.

 

Virat Kohli's dismissal in second ODI | GETTY

England defeated India in the second ODI at Lord's, after the visitors failed to chase 323. What turned the game in favor of Eoin Morgan's team was skipper Virat Kohli's dismissal, says Yuzvendra Chahal.

Chahal further spoke about the slowness of the pitch. The spinner who picked up one wicket in the second encounter said he realized the pitch is slow just after second over.

“After a couple of overs, I realized that the wicket was slow,” Chahal explained after the game. “My plan was that on this track, I should vary the pace and bowl fuller. If you bowl short on a slow track, the chances of getting hit are more. I wanted to keep it wicket-to-wicket because if the batsman misses, I have a greater chance of getting a wicket.”

India couldn't find a batsman to keep going in the run chase. Virat Kohli (45) and Suresh Raina (46) stitched a crucial 80-run stand for the fifth wicket but got dismissed without consuming the fruit for their patients.

Chahal thinks India conceded more than enough runs on this slow track. “We conceded 20-25 runs extra in the death overs,” said Chahal. “We must give credit to Joe Root and Willey also because they batted really well towards the end. As far as the spinners are concerned, Kuldeep and I bowled reasonably well, Kuldeep got three wickets. The wicket was different, a bit slow. If you bowled slow, batsmen were able to play us easily and there wasn’t as much turn as in the second innings.”

Chasing the target, India got off to a good start by Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma but ended up on just 236 in 50 overs. Even MS Dhoni couldn't take India over the line after playing a struggling innings.

“I think the turning point was Virat bhaiya’s dismissal because he was batting well and he was in the middle of a good partnership,” Chahal observed. “When you are chasing 322, you need to have wickets in hand towards the end. But I think their spinners bowled well because if you see the way Moeen bhai started, the boundaries weren’t coming easily. The run rate was increasing and therefore there was a little pressure on the batsmen as well. You can say that their spinners bowled really well in the middle overs.”

Dhoni's approach was questioned by experts. But Chahal explained the veteran's innings, “Only Kuldeep, Siddarth (Kaul) and I were left (to bat), so it wasn’t as if we had 2-3 batsmen in the shed. In the whole series, he hasn’t had much batting, so this was a chance for him to get a hit. If he had played a shot then and got out, we wouldn’t have been able to last the entire 50 overs.”

 
 

By Sihyeu Singh - 15 Jul, 2018

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