India’s stand-in captain Rohit Sharma defended Jasprit Bumrah for getting a wicket on a no-ball and rather blamed poor batting for the humiliating seven-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka in the first One-Day International (ODI) in Dharamsala on December 10.
The Indian batsmen put up with a pathetic show to be dismissed for a lowly total of 112 runs. Only three Indian batsmen—Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kuldeep Yadav and Hardik Pandya—managed to reach double figures as Sri Lanka pacer Suranga Lakmal registered career-best figures of 4/13.
In reply, Sri Lankans lost the two batsmen cheaply. Upul Tharanga, who went to score 49 after coming to open the innings with Gunathilaka, was on 11 when he was caught by Dinesh Karthik at gully off Jasprit Bumrah’s bowling. The batsman started walking back to the dressing room before being held up by the umpires to check the no-ball. Replays showed no part of Bumrah’s foot was behind the line on his first landing at the crease. The batsman got the lifeline.
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In the ICC Champions Trophy earlier this year, Jasprit Bumrah faced the similar situation after he got the wicket of Pakistani batsman Fakhar Zaman in the finals which Team India lost. The batsman went on to score a century and took his team in the commanding position.
During the post-match press conference, Rohit Sharma was asked to comment on Jasprit Bumrah’s no-ball incident. He said,
We lost the game with the bat and not with the ball. It will be unfair to single out one individual, especially a bowler. I think we as a batting group failed. Nobody knew it would happen but this is the game that we play, and they go out there trying their best. I wouldn’t say it cost us dearly because there was not enough total on the board. If we were defending 180-190, but if you are defending 110, you can hardly do anything except with the new ball and come back into the game.
Sharma, who was appointed Indian captain during Virat Kohli’s absence, urged his teammates to learn from the debacle and put up a better show in the rest of the series. Rohit said,
It is important that we as a team thrive on conditions such as these and come out good. Not everyday will we get flat tracks and today was a good learning curve. You need to understand your game and come out of such situations. Today was an eye-opener and we need to regroup and do well.
He added,
Not such a great experience of losing the first match as a captain — nobody likes losing games and we need to focus on the next two games and come out hard.
Praising Dhoni for his fighting knock, Rohit hoped that the other Indian players will learn a thing or two from the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman.
Batsmen can learn a lot from this loss: Rohit Sharma https://t.co/3itwtatryQ
— Baahubali (@bahubalikabadla) December 11, 2017
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Striding to the middle with the hosts struggling at 8/3, Dhoni scored 65 runs off 87 balls with 10 boundaries and sixes. Rohit added,
He’s (Dhoni) done it for so many years and he knows what exactly needs to be done in such conditions. Someone with him could have made the difference and I am not at all surprised by the way he played. He was the only one battling it out.
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After surviving a few initial hiccups, the visitors chased down the target with a massive 29.2 overs to spare, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
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