India captain Rohit Sharma on Tuesday said that Khaleel Ahmed’s ability to swing the white kookaburra upfront gives the team an option to use its premier bowler Jasprit Bumrah differently in the shortest format.
Rohit led from the front with an unbeaten century
Lucknow:
The stand-in skipper also spoke about how it took some time to figure out the 22-yard strip. “It was a new pitch, so we wanted to understand how the wicket was behaving. Hence, we took so much time to know what the pitch was doing. And we carried on from there.” The opening batsman was happy that people could go home smiling on the day of Deepavali.
“Whenever you get an opportunity, you try and do well. Everyone will go home smiling. That’s what we play for. Glad we could win the game and clinch the series. You know (Shikhar) Dhawan’s natural instinct is to put pressure on the bowlers, but we decided to take our time. The partnership at the top was very important. The 120-plus stand was crucial and KL Rahul finished off well. This is a wonderful stadium - one of the best we have played in. Just want to thank the crowd for coming out and supporting us in huge numbers,” Rohit, who blazed to a century, added.
Rival skipper Carlos Brathwaite lamented that batting did let his team down. “This is hard to digest, but we need to take the positives before we play the final game. It (India) batted well without losing a wicket in the initial overs. Our batting continues to let us down. We got a young group of guys. So, we need to appreciate the positives. We are still trying to find the right opening combination. It’s difficult to choose the perfect batting pair, but we’re trying. We need to make the best decisions we think. Hopefully in the third game, we’ll put up a better performance,” said the Windies skipper.
Rohit was impressed with the youngster, who himself sought the new ball from his skipper. “Khaleel wanted the new ball and he initially looks to swing it and has taken up the challenge well. Bumrah has been the best bowler for us and the way we use him in T20s is different to ODIs. And when Khaleel bowls that kind of a spell upfront, that helps us,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation.
The stand-in skipper also spoke about how it took some time to figure out the 22-yard strip. “It was a new pitch, so we wanted to understand how the wicket was behaving. Hence, we took so much time to know what the pitch was doing. And we carried on from there.” The opening batsman was happy that people could go home smiling on the day of Deepavali.
“Whenever you get an opportunity, you try and do well. Everyone will go home smiling. That’s what we play for. Glad we could win the game and clinch the series. You know (Shikhar) Dhawan’s natural instinct is to put pressure on the bowlers, but we decided to take our time. The partnership at the top was very important. The 120-plus stand was crucial and KL Rahul finished off well. This is a wonderful stadium - one of the best we have played in. Just want to thank the crowd for coming out and supporting us in huge numbers,” Rohit, who blazed to a century, added.
Rival skipper Carlos Brathwaite lamented that batting did let his team down. “This is hard to digest, but we need to take the positives before we play the final game. It (India) batted well without losing a wicket in the initial overs. Our batting continues to let us down. We got a young group of guys. So, we need to appreciate the positives. We are still trying to find the right opening combination. It’s difficult to choose the perfect batting pair, but we’re trying. We need to make the best decisions we think. Hopefully in the third game, we’ll put up a better performance,” said the Windies skipper.
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