Brilliant death bowling from Ashish Nehra and a Man of the Match performance from Jasprit Bumrah helped India level the series 1-1 and take the T20I series to a decider in Bangalore on February 1.
Thanks to KL Rahul’s 71, India posted 144/8 which didn’t look as though it was going to be enough, especially when Ben Stokes and Joe Root were at the crease but Bumrah and Nehra produced a masterclass in death bowling to help India win the game by five runs and keep the series alive ahead of the third T20I at Bangalore.
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Here’s what Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah, Virat Kohli and Eoin Morgan had to say after a thrilling finish to a low-scoring encounter.
Ashish Nehra
Pressure game, I wanted to leave Jasprit with as many as possible to defend. Hats off to him, this isn't the first time he's done it for India. Jasprit asked me if he should bowl length. All I told him was 'you have a good yorker, look to bowl full, it's tough to hit a six even if it is a low full toss.' It worked. When 32 were needed off four overs, I told Jasprit we will win.
Jasprit Bumrah
It's always tough to bowl in the death. I tried to remember the past where I've done well in such situations. We saw the first innings, it was on the slower side. Back-of-length deliveries and slower deliveries were difficult to get away, so that is what I wanted to bowl.
Virat Kohli
It's important to have belief. It was a case of us executing well initially. You don't want to let momentum slip away in the middle overs, especially with the series on the line. But the way spinners bowled in the middle, and then the effort of Nehra and Bumrah with dew was outstanding. Nehra knew exactly what he wanted to do, Bumrah was asking me every ball what I thought he should do. I told him 'just bowl what comes naturally to you.' I played for a bit on that wicket, shot-making was difficult. As soon as I got out, Rahul knew he had to play long. He has all the shots in the book. Good reflexes, hand-eye coordination. Looking forward to Bangalore. There are some things we need to tighten up.
Eoin Morgan
We didn't start the final over well, a decision didn't go our way. The wicket was tough, but fair play, he produced a match-winning over. I thought we bowled really well to back up our previous performance with the ball, but with the last two games, we've been right on the money. In the chase, we never let it get too far away from us. Root, Stokes played outstandingly well. It's unbelievably disappointing to lose, but we still have a chance to win the series in Bangalore.
Here are the reactions from the cricket fraternity:
Sachin Tendulkar:
Virender Sehwag:
VVS Laxman:
Harbhajan Singh:
Anjum Chopra:
Parthiv Patel:
Mark Butcher:
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