Kanpur: Senior India batsman Rohit Sharma feels said after the game Sunday that pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are the world’s best death bowlers at present and the duo has contributed significantly to the recent limited overs success of the team.
While Kumar proved expensive in the series decider against New Zealand, Bumrah bowled brilliantly in the death overs. New Zealand, needing 30 off the last 18 balls with five wickets failed to respond to the challenges posed by the Indian pacemen.
Rohit asserted that India could not have won seven bilateral ODI series on the trot without Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah.
“I think we have the two best death bowlers. If you look at the last series against Australia, the way they have bowled, you have to praise them a lot. Because if you look at Australia’s batting, with their power hitting, those were the two bowlers who got us back most of the times,” said Rohit after India sealed the series 2-1 against New Zealand.
“Even in this match there was so much dew, the ball was wet and to be able to defend on that kind of wicket, with two set batsmen, is indeed very creditable. On this wicket, in these conditions, 35 required in four overs, it should have been made easily. It’s only because of these two (Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah that we could pull the game back,” added the man popularly known as ‘hitman’.
In the previous series against Australia, their captain Steve Smith too had rated Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar among the best in business.
Rohit rated both the series wins against Australia and New Zealand as equally ‘tough’. “First there are no easy wins. Yes, even when we played against Australia, they tested us a number of times and we responded well to the situations and won the games,” Rohit pointed out.
“Similar has been the case here. After losing the first game in Mumbai, we responded very well to win the next two to win the series,” added Rohit.
Press Trust of India