The former India cricketer as well as former India selector Saba Karim has blamed young India pace bowler Arshdeep Singh’s five no-balls as the reason behind India’s 16-run defeat to Sri Lanka in Pune on Thursday, January 5. He also added that Team India gave away too many runs in the last three overs, which helped the visitors put up a 200+ total.
Karim, however, believes India’s loss is a blessing in disguise as they showed intent and took the game to the last over. While speaking on India News, Karim said:
“I think there are a lot of gains for India. How they fought back after losing five wickets, they will learn a lot. Bowling should have been better. We leaked a lot of runs in the last three overs. The biggest mistake was giving away too many no-balls.”
Meanwhile, Karim also added that Arshdeep Singh conceded 20-25 extra runs, which was one of the reasons for India’s loss. However, he felt that the young left-arm pacer looked rusty after a month-long gap as well. He said:
“In T20, if you are bowling no-balls, there’s a no bigger mistake. They bowled not one or two but many no-balls. You are bowling extra deliveries, especially free hits. I think India gave away 20-25 extra runs. You can’t afford no-ball in T20 cricket. Lack of discipline. Arshdeep generally doesn’t ball no-balls. He came back after a long gap. He looked rusty today.”
“We made a lot of mistakes” – Reetinder Singh Sodhi on Team India
However, Arshdeep Singh bowled five no-balls and finished with the figures of 0/37 in his two overs. On the other hand, Umran Malik and Shivam Mavi also bowled a no-ball each during Sri Lanka’s innings. On the other hand, former India player Reetinder Singh Sodhi lauded Suryakumar Yadav and Axar Patel for their heroics with the bat.
While Suryakumar Yadav scored a quickfire 51 off 36 balls, Axar Patel hit 65 off 31 deliveries. They hit nine sixes and six boundaries in their 91-run partnership for the sixth wicket to recover India from 57/5 as well. With the ball, Axar Patel finished with figures of 2/24 in the second T20I.
While speaking on the same show as Saba Karim, Sodhi said: “How Axar Patel and Suryakumar Yadav played today, [it was] outstanding batting. However, we made a lot of mistakes. The duo tried to put the train back on track, but we lost. A lot of mistakes that we need to improve.”
The T20I series is levelled at 1-1, with the third game taking place in Rajkot on Saturday (January 7).
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