On Sunday (September 22), South Africa comfortably defeated Team India by 9 wickets in the 3rd T20I at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s decision to bat first backfired and Proteas were able to level the series (1-1).
On a chasing ground, Kohli elected to bat first to challenge his team. He wanted his men to get out of their ‘comfort zone‘ as they prepare for the next year’s ICC T20 World Cup.
During the post-match conference, Kohli also revealed why Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer walked out to bat at No. 4 simultaneously. The incident occurred in the 8th over of the innings when opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan got dismissed. Pant started walking towards the crease from the dugout while Iyer appeared from the side screen. After a while, both the batsmen saw each other and looked confused regarding the whole situation.
Virat admitted that there was a “communication problem” between both the players and team management.
“The batting coach had a word with both of them, and there was a misunderstanding about who had to go at what stage of the game. There was a miscommunication there. I understood it afterward,” told Kohli.
The management planned to send Iyer at No. 4 before 10 overs and Pant after that.
“We had it planned according to phases. After 10 overs we had decided Rishabh would walk in; before that Shreyas had to walk in. But both of them got confused and didn’t realize who has to walk in at what stage of the game,” added Kohli.
