Team India skipper Virat Kohli has shared high praise for frontline bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah on the eve of the opening fixture of the three-match T20I series against Australia.
Meanwhile, the men in blues will start their much-anticipated tour with the T20Is. They will be keen to begin the journey on a high ahead of the four-match Border-Gavaskar Test series. After managing the workload of the cricketers, the selectors have named a full-fledged squad against the Aussies. The likes of Kumar and Bumrah, who have exceedingly well in the limited-overs format have returned to the scheme of things.
Virat Kohli, while speaking to the media, lauded the duo saying that their brilliance has made it tough for other bowlers to slot in.
“It does. You think about giving others a go at the start of a series but then again you think that the first few games are important, so if the other side wins a game or two then you still go and back on Bhuvi and Bumrah,” said Kohli on Tuesday in Brisbane.
“Both of them have been outstanding, they are thinking bowlers and understand the situation and get a gut feeling of what a batsman is looking to do before they bowl. The ability to sort of predict what’s going to happen on each ball is what keeps them a step ahead of the batsmen, most of the times,” he added.
They are a strength to any captain
Despite agreeing to the fact that at times batsmen dominate them, Virat Kohli said they are spot on most of the times. Moreover, Kohli adjudged himself lucky to have Bumrah and Kumar in his ranks.
“Sometimes they will get dominated like everyone does, but I think 85-90 percent of the time they are spot on and that’s because they are always looking at how the game’s going,” said Kohli.
“That has been their strength and any captain would love to have both of them in their bowling attack. I’ve been very lucky to have both of them bowling so well for the team and giving us those breakthroughs … in difficult situations, at the death, they’ve been brilliant,” he added.
And now, with the World Cup looming ahead, Virat Kohli feels it will be even tougher for others to join in. He also revealed that with few matches left for the World Cup, they would like to play together for as many games as possible.
“From now on its going to be more difficult for others to step in unless there’s any sort of workload issue because until the World Cup we want our 11 that’s going to play together to play together as long as possible. There aren’t many games left to go,” he concluded.