T20 World Cup 2021: Jasprit Bumrah explains why Ravichandran Ashwin didn't get a chance against New Zealand
Jasprit Bumrah has opened up about Ravichandran Ashwin's absence from India's playing 11 against New Zealand on Sunday. He suggested that the dew factor in Dubai played a role in keeping the senior off-spinner out of the team, while also adding that it's "difficult to judge" team selections in hindsight.
Jasprit Bumrah's remarks came in the post-match press conference after India's 8-wicket loss to the Kiwis in Dubai. After being put in to bat, Virat Kohli and Co. could only score a mere 110 runs in the first innings. New Zealand chased down the total easily, and needed only 14.3 overs to do so while losing just a couple of wickets..
Some demanded that Ravichandran Ashwin be included in the team after India's defeat to Pakistan last week owing to the poor show by Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakravarthy in that game. The spin-pair failed once again on Sunday, conceding 46 runs from six overs without taking a wicket.
Jasprit Bumrah said:
"See, in hindsight, we could say a lot of things. In hindsight, we would have loved a lot more runs and a lot more wickets. He is an experienced bowler. Obviously, he adds value to the bowling attack whenever he comes. But in hindsight, it's very difficult. As I said, there's dew in the second innings so the ball doesn't grip and the options become very little and rare for the bowlers. You know, the margin of the error goes down. So in hindsight, you might say that 'OK he might have made a difference' but it's too difficult to judge right now."
I just don’t understand how Kohli’s prickly relationship with Ashwin is allowed to keep him out of Indian teams? Do you think Captains should be allowed such autonomy?
While all the other Indian bowlers struggled under pressure, Jasprit Bumrah was the lone wicket-taker. The pacer bowled two overs in the powerplay and two in the middle-overs, getting both New Zealand openers out at cost of just 19 runs.
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"Part and parcel of a cricketer's life" - Jasprit Bumrah on India's morale after the defeat
New Zealand win the game, but #TeamIndia will look to make amends in their next match of the #T20WorldCup. #INDvNZ
Scorecard ▶️ bit.ly/IndvNZ-T20WC https://t.co/Bvkz3BHshm
Jasprit Bumrah was also asked how India will recover from the mental setback of having suffered two back-to-back defeats that have almost knocked them out of the competition. He labeled it as "part and parcel" of an athlete's life and advised his teammates to stay in the present and not let the bad days pull them down.
He said:
"See, as a sportsman, you face a lot of days in cricket. Some days will be good, some days will be bad. What I try to do this is not getting very high when good days happen and not getting very low when bad days happen. All of these things are always a part and parcel of a cricketer's life. Trying to stay in the moment, analyze what went wrong and what went well - that's the only way you can move forward in this game."
India will now play against Afghanistan on November 3 in Abu Dhabi, starting at 7:30 PM IST. Every match from here on is a virtual knockout for the Men in Blue.