Monday, July 18, 2022

Exclusive: Virat Kohli has got the game for T20, it’s just mental aspect, says Brad Hogg

All teams have now well and truly hit the road to the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia and are trying out various combinations before the marquee event gets underway Down Under. India and England showed signs of things to come in the recently concluded white ball series, and the Rohit Sharma-led unit are expected to do more of the same when they lock horns with West Indies in the upcoming series. Playing in Australia is a different ball game altogether and all teams would have the conditions, and especially the ground dimensions, in mind before they finalist the core unit.

In a freewheeling chat with Firstpost.com, former Australia cricketer Brad Hogg, on the sidelines of a Tourism Western Australia event, threw light on the upcoming World Cup, the big Virat Kohli question, India’s team combination, and more. Excerpts:

 

The team with good bowling will have a better chance of winning the World Cup. How important do you think spinners will play a role at the World Cup, considering Australia's bigger boundaries?

Yeah, I think spinner plays a huge role and you brought up a good point there, the bigger boundaries, so that's when trying to attack spinners and trying to clear the rope, it's a lot more difficult over in Australia. But in saying that, spinners have got to adjust their lengths to the different wickets.

So somewhere out Perth Stadium, you'd slightly be a little shorter so that batsman can't get out of the crease and hit you straight down the ground, and you try to hit them to the wide boundaries on the leg side. And if you go to Adelaide, the longer boundaries are straight and the boundaries square are shorter. But in going a little bit fuller to try and get them to hit straight down the ground, you're exposing the sweep shot. So you got to probably bowl with a little bit more overspin there so that sweep shop is a little bit more difficult. So those are the little intricacies that you have in the different venues around Australia.

Buttler, who has been dismissed by Bhuvneshwar

For India, do you think Kuldeep Yadav, once he regains fitness, should play the WC and the team should give him more match time right now before the WC because he has played very less in the last couple of years, or should he be an optional bowler?

It will be great giving the opportunity. I like Kuldeep and I want him to be playing for India. But Chahal has done a wonderful job and you have got Jadeja, bit like for Australia with Ashton Agar. You need Jadeja in there with his fielding ability and batting ability. And you have got Hardik Pandya as well. So you got two all-rounders that are very confident with the bat, and also very skillful with the ball and do the job. So they are adding depth to the batting and depth to the bowling and that’s the strength of India and that’s why Australia are going with Ashton Agar.

 

And a word on Virat Kohli. It has been a very controversial topic right now, but do you think he will make a part of the World Cup team? He has also been rested for the upcoming T20 West Indies series. So do you think he will make up the part of the team?

[Smiles] Look I think so. When he gets to Australia and spends some time in Perth, where it’s very relaxing. He can get away from the hustle and bustle of cricket life from the rest of the world where he cannot get out of the hotel as much, sort of locked in a bit. So those extra pressures are going to be not there. Hopefully a little bit more mental relaxation.

Virat Kohli, he knows how to bat. He knows what he’s doing. He can control any bowler in any phase of any game. Doesn’t matter the format he is playing. I guess it’s just the preparation, or the mental side of the things, what he is doing before he gets to the game, rather than what is happening at the game, that he is probably going to focus on.

And probably try and go back to two years ago, those routines you have going into the game, wake up, heading to the game, that’s where his focus should be rather than what’s happening out in the middle. Because we know he had a fantastic IPL, I think in 2019 when he was creaming the ball all over the park and no one could curb his mind. For me it’s more of a mental thing. He’s got the game for T20, it’s just mental aspect.

 

So you are confident that he will make part of the team?

Yeah, I am confident that he will be part of the team. It’s just a matter of where will you bat him. That’s the question, same as I made about Steve Smith. If you have Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli at 1, 2, and 3, who is going to be the aggressor in that period after powerplay to keep the momentum going and maintain that run rate at a high notch so that you are not adding pressure on the big hitters like Hardik Pandya, Pant and Jadeja down the order.

Because you want those guys to capitalize on their strengths. And you know, if you lose early wickets, the likes of Pandya, Pant or Jadeja can rebuild the innings, they have got the skills to rebuild the innings. They can converse it through the middle periods but then take the game away at the back end. So that’s where the top three batters can take the risk, knowing that the bottom order can do the job and revive the innings if they don’t come up earlier in the innings.

Also about the opening combination for India, as you are saying that Rohit and KL might open the innings for India, so do you think that should be their first preference opening pair or someone like Ishan Kishan or maybe they open with Kohli? Recently they also tried Pant to open the innings against England.

I would have a crack at Pant, but Pant should have had more opportunities at the top before you go into the T20 WC. So if Pant doesn’t get any more opportunities, you can’t go down that path. He will go to lower order. But the most important cog of the wheel is Suryakumar Yadav. Where do you bat him? I think he should be batting at number three for you in the T20 team. He is very good against pace, but he can dominate spin as well. He is coming in at three, starts in the powerplay, gets off to a good start. Spin comes in the middle overs, he’s already set, he’s already got the feel of the game. And spinners bowling to him when he has already faced a couple of balls is a tough proposition because he can play any shot against spin and it’s very hard to set field for him, so he’s going to be a very important cog for India, if India is going to win this tournament.

 

His recent form has also been very interesting, like the way he played against England.

I played with him at KKR, and he was always up and down the order. He didn’t have a specific role. Rohit gave him a specific role at Mumbai [Mumbai Indians] and he’s got that confidence since then. With the confidence, he is showing his full potential and he is where he should be and playing international T20 cricket.

 

And a word about Indian bowling line-up. Considering the form Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah are in, what do you think will be their first preference bowling line-up? Would they fit in Mohammed Shami or someone like Umran Malik?

I wouldn’t go with Malik at this stage. I think you can stick with Shami. You have got Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Bumrah. Shami gives you more options. He can also bowl with the new ball, and swing it. He can also bowl with pace in the middle overs. And in the death, he has got more experience.

Malik is an exciting prospect moving forward. But I still think that he needs a little bit of growth. So they let him play T20 cricket for Hyderabad over the next couple of years and get that exposure. The odd tournament here and there for India, and he will be ready for the World Cup in two years’ time.

I think when you see someone like Malik, he is so exciting and raw with that talent. It’s very easy to rush those players in but you want to be careful with that because, on the big stage of a T20 tournament, he comes up against someone like Australia that are very good on those particular surfaces, and like the pace coming on, could be a bit of concern moving forward. That excitement when they play in Perth or Brisbane where there is extra bounce, even in Sydney now, that enthusiasm, it could just be a little bit too overconfident with the short ball so you get caught in the emotion of trying to bowl the quickest ball in T20 history.

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