"He is growing, he is maturing, it is nice to see him bowl like this" - Aakash Chopra lauds Mohammed Siraj's performances
Aakash Chopra has lauded the Indian bowlers' performances in the T20I series against New Zealand, and particularly that of Mohammed Siraj.
The Men in Blue registered a 1-0 win in the three-match series after the final game in Napier on Tuesday, November 22, ended in a tie. Hardik Pandya and Co. had previously won the second T20I by 65 runs after the first game was rained off without a ball being bowled.
In a video shared on his YouTube, Chopra picked the bowlers' good performances as one of the biggest takeaways for India from the series. He had this to say about Mohammed Siraj:
"Mohammed Siraj bowled well. He is not your typical T20 bowler because he is a slight hit-the-deck-hard type of bowler. We have seen him go very expensive as well. Of course, when someone plays at the Chinnaswamy, or for RCB, it is natural for him to be expensive. He is growing, he is maturing, it is nice to see him bowl like this."
Chopra was also appreciative of Arshdeep Singh's performances. The former Indian opener elaborated:
"Whenever Arshdeep Singh got a chance, you gave him only one over with the new ball in the first match, here you gave him two, the second over was expensive for sure, but he came back strongly, picked up four wickets. His stature is increasing further. When the ball swings, he bowls extremely well and bowls well in the death also."
130/3
146/4
147/5
149/6
149/7
149/8
149/9
160/10
What a comeback by India, all credit to Siraj & Arshdeep.
Both Siraj (4/17) and Arshdeep (4/37) registered their best T20I figures in the final match on Tuesday. The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) seamer was the highest wicket-taker of the series with six scalps to his credit.
"I will not talk much about Bhuvneshwar Kumar's bowling" - Aakash Chopra
While praising Yuzvendra Chahal for the spell he bowled in the second T20I, Chopra questioned the think tank's expectations from Bhuvneshwar Kumar going forward. He said:
"Yuzi Chahal's second match was not that good but he bowled well in the first match. I will not talk much about Bhuvneshwar Kumar's bowling because Bhuvi will do this. The question you have to ask is what is your expectation from Bhuvi because he is not part of the ODI team."
Chopra is unsure of the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) seamer's future with the Indian side. The reputed commentator reasoned:
"When he is not part of the ODI team, there are no T20Is left this year and you will have only six T20Is in the first eight months next year, the rest will be all Tests, ODIs and the IPL, so Bhuvneshwar Kumar's future - we really don't know."
Bhuvneshwar had a decent T20 World Cup but was found slightly wanting in the semi-finals against England. It will be interesting to see if the selectors persist with the veteran swing bowler considering the plethora of young seam-bowling options at their disposal.