ICC World Cup 2019 | We believed in our death specialist bowlers, reveals Kedar Jadhav
BCCI
Kedar Jadhav has said that the team had great belief in the death bowling duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami who ultimately came through for them and ensured a win against Afghanistan. Jadhav added that it was a difficult wicket to bat on but India still should have posted a 250-plus total.
The Indian cricket team had to wait until the very last over to confirm their victory over Asian minnows Afghanistan as Mohammed Shami completed his hat-trick by dismissing Mujeeb Ur Rahman off the penultimate delivery of the match. The Indians were in a tricky situation during the middle-overs but the top-ranked ODI bowler Jasprit Bumrah came to the rescue.
At 190 for six in the 46th over, Afghanistan were in control of the game with Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan in the middle. Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed Rashid before pacers Bumrah and Shami combined to inflict damage on the Afghans.
India all-rounder Kedar Jadhav heaped praise on the Indian bowling department at the post-match press conference as he said the team always has great belief in their ‘death specialist bowlers’.
"Obviously, we had belief in our death specialist bowlers. Bumrah is the number one bowler. We knew we had to get just one wicket to break that partnership, and the next batsman would be finding it difficult to score those runs in that scenario. So we knew just one wicket away from that crucial win," Jadhav was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Jadhav, who scored 52 in yesterday’s match in Southampton, said it was a difficult wicket to bat on but added that India should have posted a 250-plus total.
"The wicket was slow and they were playing with four spinner. The ball was turning...it was difficult to play shots. When the wicket is such, you need to analyse what sort of score we are looking at. Our actual plan was to look for around 250, we were targeting 250-260 but fell short by 20-30 runs.
"So going into the fielding, we knew that we have to make up those 15, 20 runs in fielding. Obviously, credit to the bowlers that they defended this small total," the CSK all-rounder added.
