New Delhi: Former India captain Kapil Dev has said that he is not worried about the lean patch fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and Indian captain Virat Kohli are currently going through. Bumrah recently went wicket-less in India’s ODI series against New Zealand and in the subsequent first Test, he took one wicket and conceded 88 runs.
Kohli on the other hand has gone past 50 just once in the New Zealand tour and was dismissed for 2 and 19 in the first Test in Wellington that which went on to lose by 10 wickets. However, Dev said one should not be unduly worried by Kohli’s form.
“He (Kohli) is a great player and great players come back much stronger than normal cricketers do,” Kapil said on the sidelines of an event here Thursday evening. “He will bounce back, I have no doubt. He still has lots of good cricket in him,” said the former India captain.
In the case of Bumrah, Kapil said one must give the bowler some time to get his rhythm back after injury.
“Once you get an injury it takes time for the body to recover completely. He (Bumrah) is a very fine bowler and he proved it before. As batsmen we say you need one innings to come back to form and you need one good spell for a bowler. I am a positive person and always think that Bumrah needs one or two wickets to get back to form. Players like him and Kohli they are champions and they bounce back faster,” asserted Dev.
Kohli had said after India’s loss in the second ODI which confirmed India’s first ODI series defeat to New Zealand in six years, that the 50-over matches ‘aren’t relevant this year as compared to Tests and T20s’.
Dev said that he is not in full agreement with this assessment. “They have given their side of the story,” he said. “As a cricket lover, every match is important to me. What (the team) management said, that is up to them but as a former cricketer, I would say every Test, ODI and T20 match is important. If not, then we should never talk about statistics. Why to say someone played so many Test matches and made so many runs,” pointed out Dev.
Agencies