Former Pakistan captain, Ramiz Raja has praised Team India bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who let up a 6 under stress in the 2nd T20I versus Sri Lanka’s last over. Raja remarked that even the best players are occasionally able to properly produce in extreme situations and that this is an unavoidable aspect of the game. Ramiz Raja on Bhuvneshwar Kumar
IND vs SL 2021: “It happens, sometimes even experienced hands are unable to deliver” – Ramiz Raja on Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Sri Lanka required 20 off 12 balls in the 2nd final over of the contest, and Team India was in the chase. Bhuvneshwar Kumar delivered a full toss on the 3rd delivery of the 19th over, which Chamika Karunaratne angled over wide long-on for a maximum. After then, Sri Lanka flew to win.
Raja denied to condemn Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the loss and lauded India’s bowlers for having to put up a strong struggle on his YouTube channel. According to the former cricketer:
“The penultimate over bowled by Bhuvi (Bhuveshwar Kumar), in which he was hit for a six, turned the course of the match. It happens, sometimes even experienced hands are unable to deliver. Overall though India put up a very good fight. Bowling was not an issue for Team India, it was the batting that had major problems. That was because they had only five batters available because of COVID.”
Raja went on to say that the Indian batsmen were under too much pressure since they couldn’t stand to lose many wickets quickly. He went on to say:
“They had to maintain the pace as well while keeping wickets in hand, that too on a difficult surface. Team India never got into any sort of rhythm because of all those issues. And so, despite having wickets in hand, India couldn’t crack the whip and did not score as many runs as they should have. Still, they managed a fighting score. If they had fielded better, they could have created even more pressure on Sri Lanka.”
The 6 Chamika Karunaratne smashed off Bhuvneshwar Kumar, as performer Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, was important from the perspective of the game.
In the last over, he believes the hosts would have considered 14-15 runs difficult to hunt. Muralitharan said: “132 was not a par score, but India gave a very good fight because it looked at one time we’ll win the match, but Dhananjaya played well and Karunaratne came and that six he hit off the full toss changed the course of the match and changed the equation. So, if we had 14-15 to chase in the last over, it would have been difficult for Sri Lanka.”
Besides the 6, Bhuvneshwar Kumar also lost a Minod Bhanuka catch in the 12th over during the innings with Kuldeep Yadav’s bowling.
India and Sri Lanka will face off in the series finale on Thursday, with the series level at (1-1).
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