Thread by @GlobalLeagues

Matchdays with @IndianMourinho: #T20WorldCup

Offspin vs West Indies: West Indies have time and again relied on a sole right-hander to split a slew of left-handers and counter off-spin. Simply put, they need more than one - be it Simmons & Chase or Holder & Chase or Pollard at 4

@IndianMourinho and Chase as opener, they just need more than 1 in the first 12-15 overs.

Chase's innings: 6 balls into his innings, Chase was on strike the first ball of the 4th over vs Mahedi Hasan. He took an intended single and moved to the other end, which exposed Gayle to his biggest

@IndianMourinho weakness and got him out. As the sole right-hander, that's the exact opposite of what he was supposed to do.

But I think there is a reason for it. The management might be expecting him to do the classic anchoring role, where irrespective of who bowls and what is bowled,

@IndianMourinho you just rotate strike (move around pointlessly). Under Andy Flower at St Lucia, he isn't just an anchor. He does that, yeah, but when there are targets to be taken down, he does it as well.

Side note: This is why Andy Flower is a top coach.

@IndianMourinho Chase should be under clear instructions to not expose their left-handers vs offspin: hold strike and attempt to take 10-12 runs off them. And the management has to make it easier for him to take risks by adding another right-handed splitter.

@IndianMourinho The structural flaw in the WI batting unit: if I were the opposition captain with Shakib in my XI and I look at a batting unit that has Lewis, Gayle, Pooran, and Hetmyer, my biggest concern would be getting 4 overs, out of him. Yet Bangladesh didn't just do it,

@IndianMourinho but did it very well too (just 28 runs off 4 overs). How?

Because WI don't just expose all their left-handers to offspin by lining them up back to back at the top, they also leave all the right-handers down and make it possible to bowl legspin and/or SLA,

@IndianMourinho if offspin and pace runs through the top 4.

Shakib, today, bowled 67% of his deliveries at RHB. And 50% of his remaining at the sole left-hander when he was new to the crease reconstructing a completely hopeless innings (his returns till this point read: 3-0-13-0)

@IndianMourinho After bowling his last over at a set and free to attack LHB, the figures became 4-0-28-0. That last over cost them 15 runs.  Imagine how difficult would it have been if WI rush him with more left-handers and in situations where they don't have to worry about losing their wicket.

@IndianMourinho Taskin the Enforcer: You would very rarely see Pollard being on 8* off 16 at a venue that neither has pace nor sharp spin, but it is at that point he retired hurt today. One of the biggest reasons for that is the aggressive usage of Taskin Ahmed by Bangladesh.

@IndianMourinho After Pollard arrived at the crease,

*offspin was taken out
*Shakib wasn't rushed in
*Shoriful wasn't overused
*Taskin was brought back to bowl his 3rd within the first 8. He delivered him balls at BoL & at 146 kph - trying to exploit one of his biggest weaknesses. It nearly

@IndianMourinho worked.

*They followed that Taskin over with all the basic traps understanding he is in rebuilding mode & again brought back Taskin earlier than usual to derail a potential launch in the 13th over. *insert I was cornered Sivaji meme, replacing Rajini with Pollard*

@IndianMourinho This is the earliest he has finished his quota in the entire tournament (the other 3 by 20th, 18th, and 15th). A clear diversion in their usual ploy to attack Pollard with pace and BoL.