Despite India’s convincing seven-wicket win in the second T20I against Sri Lanka, former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer feels that the Men in Blue must be concerned over their death bowling. After putting Sri Lanka into bat, Team India’s bowlers did well to restrict them to 103/4 after 15 overs.
However, Pathum Nissanka (75 off 53) and Dasun Shanaka (47* off 19) took on them as Sri Lanka added 80 runs in the last five overs. Harshal Patel faced the assault, conceding 52 in his four overs, whereas Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar went for 37 and 36 runs respectively as well.
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While admitting that India need to work on their death-overs bowling, Wasim Jaffer told ESPNCricinfo: “Till the 15th over, Indian bowling looked pretty much in control. (But) when Shanaka came in, he changed the complexion of the game. India need to worry a little about the way they bowled at the death. Yes, the conditions were cold and not ideal. But they still need to plan a little better next time.”
When he was asked to opine on where Team India’s bowlers got it wrong in the final five overs, the former opener shared his views.
“The lengths that were bowled at the death, most of them were in the slot, even the slower balls. It was very unlike Harshal (Patel), he doesn’t do that often. They’ll probably look to bowl slower bouncers (in the next game), let them (Sri Lanka) hit on the side of the ground rather than straight, which looked pretty small,” Wasim Jaffer shared.
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Meanwhile, despite the bowlers conceding a few too many, India chased down the target of 184 comfortably as Shreyas Iyer smacked an unbeaten 74 in 44 balls. On the other hand, Yuzvendra Chahal showed a good display with figures of 1 for 27 as well.
“Chahal is definitely high on confidence, the way he is bowling for the last 6-8 months. On top of that, on such a small ground, bowling to the left-handers as well, he looked in complete control. He’s got a lot of variations. Six an over was an outstanding effort,” Wasim Jaffer concluded.
