No ball will haunt Jasprit Bumrah for a long time, reckons Sunil Gavaskar

No ball will haunt Jasprit Bumrah for a long time, reckons Sunil Gavaskar

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Sunil Gavaskar believes that Jasprit Bumrah delivery that could have dismissed Fakhar Zaman if not for being a no ball in the Champions Trophy final will disturb the Indian pacer for a long time. Zaman, who edged the ball to Dhoni while on 3, eventually went on to make a match-winning century.

Having been given a lifeline, the Pakistan opener made the most of the opportunity as he smashed 111 runs more to power Pakistan to a humongous total of 338 on Sunday. Chasing 339 to win, the famed Indian batting line-up collapsed for a paltry total of 158 runs, thereby losing the game by 180 runs and subsequently handing over the title to their arch-rivals.

However, it would have been a completely different story had the 23-year old pacer not over-stepped his bowling mark. Though Gavaskar sympathized with Bumrah, he also claimed that the youngster will not forget about the incident anytime soon. "Jasprit bowled quite superbly throughout the tournament, but yes, I think that no ball is the one that's going to be, unfortunately for what he is remembered for a long time and mainly because it was against Pakistan," Gavaskar told NDTV.

Moreover, Sunday saw two Indo-Pak clashes with the other being in the Hockey World League Semi-Final 2017, wherein India thrashed Pakistan 7-1 to earn their third straight win of the tournament. And like most other Indians, Gavaskar too took solace in the hockey result.

"Hockey has been our national sport for decades and I am very happy to see that it has got the recognition it deserves. Our boys played absolutely superbly and it is a huge margin. Pretty much the same margin with which India lost in cricket and Pakistan has always been a terrific hockey team. Many congratulations to the team and I hope that the team goes from here strength to strength," Gavaskar said.

Although a big part of India’s failure to defend their Champions Trophy title has been attributed to Virat Kohli’s failure with the bat against Pakistan, the former Indian skipper backed the 28-year old saying, “More than Virat Kohli, the rest of the Indian cricket clubbing population must understand that Kohli is human. That he is going to falter once in awhile and so the expectation must scale down just a little bit and not that he is going to go out and score a hundred every single time or he will be winning every single match. I think if those expectations are scaled down then, I think, Virat would be able to perform more consistently than he is doing. He is doing brilliantly and also win more trophies."

As heart-breaking as the defeat to Pakistan was for India, it was an equally heart-warming result for their arch-rivals given that it could signal the dawn of a new era in Pakistan cricket - they haven’t played at home in a long time, but it could change in the near future, owing to their win on Sunday.

"Winning the Champions Trophy would mean the world to Pakistan. They have been deprived of playing at home for a long time. So, you know, home fans have not quite been able to see their team at close quarters. That makes a huge difference for a young budding cricketer to be able to see his heroes in flesh and blood, in cricketing attire is completely different than from seeing them on television. This win will certainly uplift Pakistan cricket," the 67-year old felt.

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