West Indies hardly seem a concern for India, but Virat Kohli’s poor form with the bat is

PTI

Kolkata, February 17

Clinical in most aspects of the game so far, India will hope that star batter Virat Kohli regain his form when they take on a struggling West Indies in the second T20 International here tomorrow.

The tourists have been far from being at their best and have failed to trouble the hosts so far.

After being outclassed 3-0 in the ODI leg in Ahmedabad, the Kieron Pollard-led team was expected to challenge India in their favourite T20 format, especially after a 3-2 win over England in their last series at home. But they hardly managed to trouble the hosts in the first T20I here on Wednesday, going down by six wickets.

Another win and it will be a third successive series win for Rohit Sharma after being appointed the full-time captain of India.

The only concern for India has been Kohli’s form and he would definitely want a bigger knock than the scores of 8, 18, 0, and 17 against West Indies.

Sharma has been confident that Kohli would come good and asked both critics and media to spare him the constant scrutiny.

On his part, Sharma knows the importance of going hard in the powerplay, something that was on full display in his 19-ball 40 when he took Odean Smith to the cleaners in an over that conceded 22 runs. With Ishan Kishan looking ordinary and struggling to get going at the other end, Sharma made the bulk of the 58 runs that India scored in the powerplay that helped the side greatly in their 158-run chase despite losing three quick wickets in the middle.

After Sharma got out in the eighth over, Kohli had the perfect opportunity to return to form and seal the chase. But that was not the case even though Kohli looked fluent in his short stay of a 13-ball 17.

On other days his inside-out shot would have been a clear boundary but this time he hit straight to the fielder.

As for Kishan, the most expensive buy in the IPL auction, he was not able to score freely and failed to rotate strike when Sharma looked in sublime touch.

With India opting for a six-bowler combination featuring pace bowling all-rounder Venkatesh, in-form batter Shreyas Iyer had to sit out of the opening game. It remains to be seen what will be the ploy in the second which can seal the series for India.

“We were very clear with Shreyas, we told him the team wants that option (of an all-rounder) going into the World Cup. We need that option in the middle, someone who can bowl,” Sharma said after the match. “A lot of things go into deciding the playing XI.” —

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