Former Indian cricket team batter Sunil Gavaskar heaped praise on current Indian stand-in skipper Rishabh Pant for one of his decisions during the second T20I of the ongoing series against the South African cricket team. Gavaskar appreciated Pant for giving Bhuvneshwar Kumar three overs during the powerplay of the second innings.
The Indian cricket team could not impress much with the willow in the first innings of the Cuttack T20I. Despite having some big names like Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Dinesh Karthik and Ishan Kishan, the Men in Blue failed to touch the 150-run mark in their 20 overs.
A last-over blitz from Karthik helped the team set a 149-run target for the visitors. Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave some much-needed momentum to the Men in Blue by picking up three wickets in the powerplay.
He rattled the stumps of Reeza Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen, while Dwaine Pretorius lost his wicket after handing a catch to Avesh Khan. The South African side was struggling at 29/3 after Kumar’s excellent start in the powerplay.
Sunil Gavaskar explains why Rishabh Pant giving 3 overs to Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the powerplay was a good decision
The ball swung in Cuttack during the initial overs of the South African cricket team’s innings. Bhuvneshwar Kumar becomes one of the world’s most dangerous bowlers when he gets his swing right.
Speaking with Star Sports, Gavaskar said that the old ball would not have swung much, which was why Rishabh Pant giving one extra over to Kumar was a good call.
“Kumar has got that capability. And that is why it was very good captaincy from Rishabh Pant to give him that third over in which he got a wicket as well. Because after that the ball wouldn’t have moved that much as well and Bhuvneshwar would have been ineffective,” said Gavaskar.
