Former Pakistan cricketer Junaid Khan criticized India’s abysmal bowling performance during their 0-2 defeat in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka. On Wednesday, August 7, the Men in Blue lost the all-important third ODI as Sri Lanka managed to beat their neighbours in a bilateral ODI series for the first time since 1997.
During the recently concluded series, the Sri Lankan managed to bowl out India in every game. However, the tourists couldn’t bowl out the Lankan Lions even once. Sri Lanka won the toss on all three occasions and opted to bat first on pitches that kept on crumbling as the games went along. While this turned out to be a huge advantage for their bowlers, it has to be said that their Indian counterparts didn’t look as minacious.
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Junaid said that India’s bowling attack is “zero” without Jasprit Bumrah, who was rested for this series. The former Pakistan speedster asked cricket fans whether they agreed with his opinion.
“Would you agree? Without Bumrah, India’s bowling is zero,” Junaid wrote on his official ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) handle.
Would you agree? Without Bumrah, india’s bowling is zero… #INDvSL #SLVSIND
— Junaid khan (@JunaidkhanREAL) August 7, 2024
The bowling statistics are dominated by Sri Lankan bowlers. Jeffrey Vandersay, Dunith Wellalage, and Charith Asalanka turned out to be the main wicket-takers in this series with 8, 7, and 6 wickets apiece. Across the series, Indian batsmen did not fare too well against the Sri Lankan spinners, which also included the part-time Asalanka.
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On the brighter side, however, captain Rohit Sharma fared well with his 157 runs in three matches at an average of 52.33 and strike rate of 141.4. His good knocks contributed nothing to India’s batting fortunes as they went haywire every time he got out during the three matches.
The next challenge for India will be a two-match Test series against Bangladesh, which starts on September 19 in Chennai. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka will prepare for a three-match Test series against England in the United Kingdom.
