Veteran India player Aakash Chopra has applauded Mukesh Kumar for nailing his yorkers consistently in the first T20I between India and Australia on Thursday as well. Mukesh went wicketless but gave away only 29 runs in his four overs as Australia set the Indian team a massive 209-run target in Visakhapatnam which they chased down with two wickets and a delivery to spare as well.

Reflecting on India’s bowling in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “Mukesh Kumar was the best bowler in the entire match. He conceded five runs in the last over which had seven balls – a no-ball and a free hit – but despite that, only five runs. The way he was bowling yorkers consistently at the right spot, it seemed like it was a machine.”

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He further added: “You didn’t give him the new ball. So he couldn’t get the ball to swing and because of that, he didn’t get wickets. You got him to bowl later when the batters were set. He bowled all difficult overs. While bowling first, the 20th over is more difficult than the 19th. Mukesh Kumar was absolutely sensational.”

However, Mukesh didn’t get to bowl with the new ball and was introduced into the attack only in the seventh over as well. He gave away 14 runs in his first two overs but he was most impressive at the death, conceding only five runs in the final over as well. The veteran also opined on Arshdeep Singh’s spell as well.

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“Arshdeep Singh started extremely well but his finish was very ordinary. His two overs in the end might have gone for nearly 30-40 runs because he had conceded only seven runs in his first two overs,” Aakash Chopra concluded. “Prasidh Krishna started poorly and ended almost poorly. He got a wicket, should have got two, Ravi Bishnoi dropped a catch. Ravi Bishnoi was sensational only in parts. He dropped two catches and missed a run-out. He is a very good fielder but Ravi (sun) didn’t shine at night.”