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NEW DELHI : India captain Rohit Sharma acknowledges bowling in the death overs remains a concern for them but backed Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel to regain their mojo ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia next month.
Batters Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav came as saviours for Team India, as their partnership of 104 runs helped their side chase down the target of 187, in the third and final T20I match against Australia on Sunday, at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. Kohli smashed 63 while Suryakumar scored 69 as Team India wrapped up the match with six wickets in hand. After the win, skipper Rohit Sharma praised both the batters for their fabulous performance, which helped his side claim the three-match series 2-1.
India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl first against Australia in the third and final T20I at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket in Hyderabad. With the series levelled at 1-1, India made just one change to their playing XI from the previous game as Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned to the side, replacing wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant. India had levelled the series 1-1 after beating Australia in a rain-hit match. During the toss, Rohit explained why Pant had to sit out the series decider.
India face Australia in the third and final T20I in Hyderabad on Sunday. The match will be a series-decider, with Australia winning the first match in Mohali and India coming back strong to triumph in a shortened game in Nagpur. India brought Jasprit Bumrah back into the side in Nagpur for Umesh Yadav and played Rishabh Pant instead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has been expensive of late. But as that was a match reduced to eight overs per side, India could afford to field one bowler less. It is highly likely that they will bring Bhuvneshwar back to ensure they have six bowling options in the series decider.
Bumrah, who has been out of action since the end of England tour, skipped the Asia Cup due to back injury. However, to everyone's surprise, the team management didn't play him during the high-scoring first T20I in Mohali, raising doubts whether he has still attained peak fitness or not. To compound the team's worries, the 'three-and-a-half' pronged pace attack, including Hardik Pandya, conceded 150 runs in 14 overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the seasoned pro, has already been taken to cleaners. He has leaked 49 runs in the three penultimate overs (19th) that he bowled against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia.
Seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar's lacklustre performances in the end overs are disrupting India's plans for the T20 World CupOn August 28, when Bhuvneshwar Kumar took 4-26 to play a key role in India's thrilling five-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan in the Asia Cup at Dubai, few thought that, with just a month left before their 2022 T20 World Cup opener against the same opponents, India's sole 'T20 specialist' bowler would become a source of one of India's biggest worries. In three out of India's last four matches, Bhuvneshwar has been taken to the cleaners in the penultimate over. Everything that he has tried-yorker, wide yorker, slower ball, knuckle ball or a bouncer, has failed, as he has ended up becoming cannon fodder for batsmen waiting to pounce on his friendly medium pace.
Former Pakistan pacer Aaqib Javed has termed India's Arshdeep Singh as a "basic bowler". Javed said that Arshdeep doesn't have a "trademark" that all the great or impactful bowlers have. He even went on to say that the opposition doesn't even think about the bowlers like him. On the other hand, Arshdeep, who made his India debut in July this year, has so far played 11 T20I matches, claiming 14 wickets at an economy of 7.38. His best figures in the format are 3 for 12.
India announced the much-awaited squad, that will be flying to Australia for the upcoming T20 World Cup and it included the likes of pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel, who missed out on the Asia Cup due to injuries. Apart from them, Arshdeep Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have also been included in the squad with Mohammed Shami, Deepak Chahar, Ravi Bishnoi, and Shreyas Iyer as standbys. In the recently concluded Asia Cup, Bhuvneshwar received a lot of criticism for leaking runs during the death overs. After the announcement of T20 World Cup squad, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan stated that he would like to see Bhuvneshwar bowling his overs with the new ball.