10 months ago
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Former India batter Gautam Gambhir has thrown his weight behind pacer Mohammed Siraj after his poor outing in the second T20I against South Africa on Tuesday. Siraj conceded 14 runs in his first over, but made a strong decent comeback by giving away just 13 runs in his next two overs, including a wicket. Gambhir also expressed his disappointment over Arshdeep Singh's show in the match. The pacer leaked 31 runs in two overs, including 24 in his first over.
Gambhir also hailed Mukesh Kumar despite the pacer leaking runs in his three-over spell.
"I feel that Mohammed Siraj will bowl much worse than this and yet finish with better figures. I was a bit disappointed with Arshdeep because after he bowled the first over, the Powerplay was over and the ball got wet and tough to get a grip of. The 13th over which Mukesh bowled was spectacular, with pin-point yorkers with a wet ball and against a bowler like David Miller. These are some big positives, and going forward, if the conditions aren't so wet, this bowling line-up will appear a lot different," Gambhir said on Star Sports.
With the T20 World Cup set to be held next year, Gambhir wants India to focus beyond the results of bilateral series and identify the group of bowlers who can be effective for them in death overs.
"A bilateral series 6-7 months before the World Cup doesn't carry much relevance. India would want to test their bowlers. You'd want to see how strong your death-overs bowling is. Who can be the one more option with Jasprit Bumrah when the T20 World Cup comes? These things need to be more carefully monitored than results," he added.
On Tuesday, Suryakumar Yadav and Rinku Singh hit rapid half-centuries for India but South Africa chased down an adjusted target to win the second T20I by five wickets (DLS).
India, sent in to bat, were 180 for seven when rain ended the innings with three balls remaining in their 20 overs.
After a delay of almost an hour, South Africa were set to make 152 off 15 overs.
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