Deodhar Trophy 2019 | Three hours of bad batting cost us trophy, laments Shubman Gill
India ‘C’ captain Shubman Gill has admitted that it was three hours of bad batting on Monday that cost his team the 2019 Deodhar Trophy. India ‘C’ fell short of their target by 51 runs, after some solid middle-order performances led by Kedar Jadhav and Yashasvi Jaiswal saw India ‘B’ post 283.
Given that the pitches at the JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi were slowing down considerably in the second half of matches, ‘bat first and win the game’ became the mantra at the Deodhar Trophy this year. However, Gill said his team missed a trick in the final as he felt the pitch remained much more consistent yesterday.
“Not a good feeling to be on the losing side. The wicket was pretty good compared to the previous games. Our batting didn't click together. If we would have looked at the other wickets, this was a good wicket. So, can't complain about the toss. Some bad batting for three hours took the Trophy away from us,” Gill said at the post-match presentation, reported Cricbuzz.
His counterpart, Parthiv Patel, on the other hand, relied on a combination of youth and experience to seal the deal. Jaiswal’s fifty led the resurgence after a stuttering start, but it was the veteran Jadhav who proved to be the lynchpin. Then, of course, it was down to a blistering finish courtesy Vijay Shankar (45 off 33 balls) and Krishnappa Gowtham (35 off 10 balls).
“I thought we batted really well. Kedar, Shankar and Gowtham finished it really well. Kedar showed us what experience can do. We have seen in IPL, that Gowtham plays those cameos,” Parthiv said.
That India ‘C’ never looked like losing from there was down to the discipline shown by Parthiv's bowlers — the 51-run margin making it look closer than it actually was.
“We wanted to bowl well in the 10 overs before the spinners came in. The spinners bowled really well. We just wanted to bowl stump to stump,” Parthiv added.