Former Indian cricketer Ajay Jadeja has criticized current Indian skipper Virat Kohli's tactics against England in the first T20I in Ahmedabad.
A day prior to the first game of the five-match T20I series, Kohli had promised that the opening pair for India will be Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, which wasn't what actually happened. He had also talked about an 'aggressive approach' that the team was going to take against England. Jadeja was left disappointed yet again because there was no aggression with the bat.
Ajay Jadeja told Cricbuzz, "In the pre-match press conference, Virat Kohli clearly says Rohit Sharma will play and we will come with a new aggressive approach. I thought maybe Rishabh Pant will open, then Hardik Pandya and we will see a new aggressive approach."
"Leave the result aside but what new experiment did you see from India in this match? You know how Shikhar Dhawan plays. KL Rahul too has been around for so long. Sanju Samson was playing in the middle-order and in place of him Rishabh Pant came in so that was the only change. So I couldn’t understand what the experiment was," he added.
The 50-year-old went on to say that Kohli wasn’t upto the mark in using his resources well. He cited the example of somebody like Cheteshwar Pujara being asked to score quickly and Virender Sehwag asked to defend.
“If your approach is aggressive then you will use the resource in that way. You won’t ask Cheteshwar Pujara to attack and Virender Sehwag to defend,” Jadeja said.
He also questioned Kohli’s strategy to attack from ball one himself when he is someone who likes to settle down before going for the big shots.
Jadeja said, “Why would you change the world’s most successful pattern? Which is Virat Kohli’s. If the team wants to play aggressively then he shouldn’t be the one. Virat Kohli provides solidity to the team. He never was the most powerful striker, yes he can play aggressively but after getting set and there is a pattern.”
“He doesn’t need to change anything. The way he has batted (in 1st T20I) is a worrying factor for me. He should send someone else if he wants quick runs,” he added.
