Captain Rohit Sharma has voiced his support for young speedster Arshdeep Singh and veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar following India’s second straight defeat at the ongoing Asia Cup 2022.
India went to Pakistan in a last-over thriller in their first Super Four game at the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 in Dubai on Sunday, September 4, and suffered another defeat in a nail-biter at the same venue to Sri Lanka two days later.
One of the major turning points in the game against Pakistan was a reprieve given to Asif Ali in the run-chase, with Arshdeep dropping a fairly straightforward chance at short third-man on the first ball the batter faced. Asif would go on to strike 16 off 8 before being dismissed by Arshdeep in the final over. The game by then was all but sealed.
Arshdeep was subject to quite a few social media trolls but showcased his skills in the game against Sri Lanka too, where he kept the opponents in check with brilliant execution in the final over, before two byes off the penultimate ball brought about a chaotic finish.
Sharma extended full support to the 23-year-old amidst all the backlash.
“Honestly, guys don’t look too much into social media, there’s too much crap happening there. A few losses here and there, few games here and there, one drop catch…I don’t think we look too much into it.
“He himself was disappointed because it was a catch that could’ve been taken, but again if you saw his confidence in that final over, he nailed that yorker pretty well to get Asif Ali out. In fact, he just ran into his place and took the ball, because he wanted that over to be bowled by him.”
“Even today (against Sri Lanka), he bowled pretty well, those last two overs. I’ve not seen many people like that in their early days of playing for India. He’s quite hungry for success for the team, which is a good sign for me as captain. Even Rahul [Dravid] bhai will tell you, we’re very happy with how he takes his game, and how approaches his game.”
Meanwhile, Kumar, who returned 4/26 and 1/15 in his first two outings of the competition against Pakistan and Hong Kong respectively, underwhelmed in recent matches, with figures of 1/40 and 0/30.
The right-arm seamer struggled with his execution at the back-end, conceding 19 and 14 in the penultimate overs against Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively, which tilted the balance significantly on both occasions.
Rohit however, maintained that Bhuvneshwar is a proven match-winner, and that a player can’t be judged on the basis of one or two poor outings.
“No yaar, there’s no worry. We’ve won so many matches post the [T20] World Cup [2021]. Experienced players get out, experienced players concede runs, these are normal things. They happen. I don’t think we should worry about these things. Bhuvi has been playing for so many years, has been winning games for us in death overs, so one or two games, we shouldn’t be judgmental.
“If you play these many games consistently, execution [going off] happens at times. There will be such matches, it happens to everyone. I don’t think we look at it this way. All the boys are confident and have done well for us in the last six months”.
India and Afghanistan would be knocked out of the competition if Pakistan beat the latter in their second Super Four contest in Sharjah on Wednesday, thereby ensuring a Sri Lanka vs Pakistan final on Sunday, September 7. A win for Afghanistan will keep the contest widely opened, with all four teams in with a chance mathematically.
