IPL 2020: Gautam Gambhir Critical Of Virat Kohli Giving Shivam Dube The Final Over Against KXIP

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli had the luck on the wrong side against Kings XI Punjab the other night as his side crashed to a 97-run loss. In particular, nothing went right for Virat Kohli as he missed two catches on the field and scored only one run off the bat. Former KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir pointed out yet another flaw in Kohli’s leadership from Thursday’s game.

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Gautam Gambhir was unhappy giving the ball to Shivam Dube for the 20th over of the game. KL Rahul, who was striking the ball exceptionally well, blasted 16 runs off the final three deliveries as Kings XI Punjab took 23 off the last over to reach an imposing 206. The 19th and 20th over went for 49 runs bowled by Dube and Dale Steyn as Rahul finished unbeaten at 132 off only 69 deliveries.

Gautam Gambhir understands that Shivam Dube bowled well in his first two overs, picking wickets of Glenn Maxwell and Nicholas Pooran; however, should not have bowled the final over. Instead, Gambhir felt that Navdeep Saini or Dale Steyn, whoever is the best amongst the two, especially with KL Rahul batting on three figures.

“I know Shivam Dube bowled really well in his first two overs. Yes, you would be tempted to give him a third over, but not the last over. When KL Rahul is already set and batting on 100+, you are walking on the edge, because that can happen… I would have Navdeep Saini or Dale Steyn bowling the last over, even though Steyn is not the best death bowler. But I would have given the last over to the best bowler of the team,” Gambhir told ESPN Cricinfo.

Gautam Gambhir further said that finishing Navdeep Saini’s quota of overs in the 17th was a poor move and instead, Virat Kohli could have utilized Umesh Yadav for that purpose. According to the former left-handed batsman, Dube bowling the final over was sure-short no.

“You (Virat Kohli) finished off Navdeep Saini in the 17th over. Probably, you could have used Umesh Yadav, who did not have the best of the days. But Shivam Dube bowling the last over was a bad calculation,” added the former India opener,” the 38-year old conceded.

Gautam Gambhir laments Virat Kohli dropping KL Rahul twice:

The 38-year old went on to say that had the RCB skipper not dropped KL Rahul twice, the run-chase chase would have been relatively comfortable. He highlighted that tiny mistakes could cause a team abundantly in T20 cricket and dropping a couple of chances had a significant impact.

“Had KL Rahul got out for 86-89, Kings XI would have scored 185, and chasing that would have been completely different gameplan for RCB. That is how it happened, that is what T20 cricket is. Small mistakes can make a huge difference as well. It was a huge impact, especially from th results point of view,” the cricketer-turned-politician concluded.

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