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The legendary Sunil Gavaskar wants star pacer Jasprit Bumrah to take the new ball in the semifinal of the T20 World Cup where India will go up against England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday, March 5.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav has chosen to give the new ball to Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya at the T20 World Cup with Bumrah usually bowling only a solitary over in powerplay. Even with the older ball, the Indian pace spearhead has taken key wickets so far in India’s campaign.
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When West Indies were going all guns blazing in India’s must-win Super 8 encounter, Bumrah turned the game with the wickets of the dangerous duo of Shimron Hetmyer and Roston Chase in a single over. However, Gavaskar believes Bumrah’s wicket-taking threat will be even greater with the new ball.
‘Bumrah should bowl 2 overs in powerplay’
The cricketer-turned-broadcaster pointed out that the wickets of England’s top three of Jos Buttler, Phil Salt and Harry Brook will be key and that is why Bumrah should be used upfront.
“I do believe that he should be bowling at least two overs in the powerplay. Because as a new ball bowler with a brand-new ball, if he can get those two wickets, if he can get Jos Buttler, Phil Salt and Harry Brook, he will have pretty much broken the back of the England batting," Gavaskar said during a recent media interaction.
He also praised the Indian pace spearhead for consistently evolving and adding more weapons to his bowling arsenal.
Bumrah is India’s joint-leading wicket-taker at T20 World Cups with 35 scalps to his name. In the ongoing tournament, he has taken nine wickets at an economy of 6.3.
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View AllGavaskar tells Abhishek to take his time
For the out-of-form Abhishek Sharma, Gavaskar had a simple advice to take his time early on.
“I think my advice would be to not always look to bat in the fourth gear. Maybe look to up the gears as you settle in. Yes, you want to take advantage of the power play where only two fielders are outside the 30-metre circle. You want to certainly take advantage of that. Play to your strengths. But don’t always have to look to bat in the fourth gear,” he said.
Abhishek has scored a half-century in this tournament but apart from that the dashing left-hander has no notable scores in other six innings.
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