Some days execution in death bowling doesn't come off: Bumrah

Agencies
February 25, 2019

Visakhapatnam, Feb 25: Jasprit Bumrah defended his under-fire colleague Umesh Yadav for not being able to defend 14 runs in the final over of the T20 against Australia, calling it a one-off day when his execution at the death went haywire.

Bumrah got India back into the match with a superb 19th over where he gave away only two runs and Yadav had defend 14 in order to stop Australia from reaching a modest target of 127. 

Asked about Yadav's last over, Bumrah came in defence of his senior colleague. 

"This happens, death bowling is always difficult in any situation. It always goes both ways and it's sometimes 50-50," Bumrah said at the post-match news conference.

"You try your best, and you're clear in your execution. Some days it works, some days it doesn't. Nothing to be worried. We wanted to close the game in our favour but it's okay," Bumrah, who took 3 for 16 in four overs with 18 dot balls, said. 

Bumrah pointed out that Australia, having won the toss, had the advantage of knowing what exactly they needed to do on a sluggish surface, while India spent their innings figuring out what a competitive total would be.

"It's a little different once you know your target. It was a small target, so once you hit one boundary then you don't need to take a lot of risks. At first, we are still figuring out what is the safe total so I think that was a difference maybe. They were were rotating the strikes after hitting a boundary." 

Bumrah further said around 140-145 would have been a par score on this wicket.

"We almost pulled off this game. But on this wicket, around 140-145 would have been a very good score. There was low bounce and it was difficult to hit big shots. It's always difficult to chase on these kind of wickets," he said. 

Just like his skipper Virat Kohli, Bumrah also agreed that India were 15-20 runs short of par-score.

"We were short by 15-20 runs, but we had a fighting total. Everybody could have taken a little more responsibility but this happens in the game of cricket. We lost two-three wickets more than we wanted to, but we backed our team and wanted to execute whatever we had." 

Bumrah, who perhaps has the best yorker among current bowlers conceded that it wasn't an easy wicket to bat on.

"I was just focusing on what my strengths are what the wicket was because the wicket was a little difficult to bat on. It's not easy to score heavily on this wicket," Bumrah, who returned to action after a being rested following the Test series in Australia, said.

Dhoni refused to take singles to guard Yuzvendra Chahal in the last two overs.

"We were just trying our best. He was just trying to take the game deep and trying to get us to a safe total which he tried. I think he gave us a total something we could fight for." 

Opener KL Rahul hit a fifty on his comeback and he said it would increase the competition for the opener's slot which is good.

"It's always good when you got competition in the team. He (Rahul) looked the best batsman. He was playing with a lot of composure. He started off playing good shots and he was paying conventional shots. So it's very good when a player like him is back in form." 

Bumrah was also all praise for Pat Cummins who hit the winning runs and also scored a boundary in the penultimate ball.

"He has the composure too. He played well and got an important boundary (off the second last ball). He's a pretty confident cricketer; he's backing all his skills so very good for him.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
January 26,2020

Mumbai, Jan 26: Boxing great Mary Kom has been selected for the Padma Vibhushan, the country's second highest civilian award. Olympic silver medallist and reigning badminton World Champion PV Sindhu has been named for Padma Bhushan as the names of Padma awardees were disclosed on Saturday on the eve of the 71st Republic Day.

Rated as one of the most successful amateur boxers of all time, Mary Kom won bronze at the 2012 London Olympics and has won gold at the boxing World Championships for a record six times. She has won a total of eight medals at the World Championships, the most recent of which came in October 2019 in Ulan Ude, Russia. The 36-year-old is now looking to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Sindhu became the only Indian woman to win an Olympic silver when she reached the final of the women's singles event at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazi. In August last year, the 24-year-old became the first Indian to win gold at the badminton World Championships.

She has also won two silver and two bronze medals at the World's in the past, thus making her only the second woman after Chinese two-time Olympic gold medallist Zhang Ning to win five medals in the competition.

Indian women's hockey captain Rani Rampal, who has been the face of women's hockey in the country and played a pivotal role in the team qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, is among those who have been nominated for the Padma Shri award.

Women's football stalwart Oinam Bembem Devi, former cricketer Zaheer Khan, shooter Jitu Rai, former hockey captain and coach M.P. Ganesh and archer Tarundeep Rai are the other sportspersons to be selected for the Padma Shri award.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 13,2020

Apr 13: Former India opener Gautam Gambhir says if IPL is not played this year, it will be difficult for Mahendra Singh Dhoni to make a comeback to the Indian team.

Dhoni last played for India in the World Cup semi-final against New Zealand in July last year.

Since then he hasn't played any competitive cricket and legends such as Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev have already said that it's getting increasingly difficult for the Jharkhand dasher to make an international return after such a prolonged sabbatical.

He was expected to be seen in action at this year's IPL but the chances of T20 league being played are remote due to the COVID-19.

"If the IPL does not happen this year, then it will become very difficult for MS Dhoni to make a comeback. On what basis can he (Dhoni) be selected since he’s not been playing for the last one or one and a half year," Gambhir said on Star Sports show 'Cricket Connected'.

The 38-year-old Gambhir picked KL Rahul, who has been keeping in ODIs, as an "apt replacement" for Dhoni.

Read: Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths

"Obviously his (Rahul's) keeping is not as good as Dhoni’s, but if you are looking at T20 cricket, Rahul's a utility player, can keep and bat at No. 3 or 4. If the IPL does not happen, then Dhoni’s chances for a comeback look dim.

"Ultimately, you are representing India, so whoever dishes out the best performance and can win the match for India should play for the team," added Gambhir.

The southpaw also felt that retirement was Dhoni's personal decision.

"As far as his retirement plans go by, that's his personal choice," said Gambhir.

However, his former teammate and test specialist VVS Laxman feels that Dhoni can continue playing IPL.

"Not only this IPL, he (Dhoni) will probably play in the next couple of IPLs, and then we will take a call about his future as a cricketer," Laxman said on the same show.

However, Laxman, a veteran of 134 Tests, said that the new selection committee, chaired by former spinner Sunil Joshi, will have to discuss Dhoni's future with him.

"Dhoni will be very clear, as far as his plans are concerned, I'm sure he must have communicated that with (captain) Virat Kohli, (coach) Ravi Shastri immediately after the 2019 World Cup in England," said Laxman.

"The new selection committee will have to sit down with MS Dhoni and understand his future, as far as Indian cricket is concerned. But MS Dhoni will continue to play for CSK and do well for CSK," said Laxman, who amassed 8,781 Test runs.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
January 9,2020

Kuala Lumpur, Jan 9: BWF World Championships defending champion PV Sindhu on Thursday cruised to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Malaysia Masters after winning a second-round match.

The 24-year-old had the upper hand in the clash and thrashed Japan's Aya Ohori in straight games 21-10, 21-15 that lasted for 34-minute. The world number six will now play in her quarterfinal match on January 10.

Earlier in the day, Saina Nehwal defeated South Korea's An Se Young 25-23, 21-12 in 38 minutes. The first game saw back and forth action between both shuttlers. In the end, Nehwal kept her cool to win the match.

On Wednesday, the 29-year-old had outclassed Belgium's Lianne Tan 21-15, 21-17 to progress to the pre-quarterfinals.

Shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the tournament after losing their matches to Japan's Kento Momota and Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei respectively. 

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.