Pune: India skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday heaped praise on his pace bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah saying that they have evolved and are coming along nicely.
“Bowlers were really clinical today and fielders as well. Both those guys (Kumar and Bumrah) are coming along nicely. They know they are going to start more often than not,” said Kohli after India eased to a six-wicket victory over New Zealand and levelled the three-match series 1-1.
He added, “Today, with the wicket being slow, it was heartening to see them getting wickets in conventional ways.”
Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled beautifully upfront and broke the back of the New Zealand batting with three wickets along with Jasprit Bumrah, who had two scalps to his name. The duo bowled accurately in tandem and restricted the visitors to a meagre 230/9 in their 50 overs.
In response, Shikhar Dhawan top scored with 68 while Dinesh Karthik played a classy innings of 64* to finish off the chase in just 46 overs.
Said Kohli, “Dhawan has been playing really well. He’s striking the ball really well. He’s pretty confident at the moment. Dinesh as well, getting some crucial runs for himself as well as the team.”
With both the teams having won one match each, the decider to be played on Sunday in Kanpur would be an interesting one.
“I look forward to challenges. We spoke about bouncing back before this game, and we have bounced back here today. Would look to play similar sort of cricket in Kanpur as well,” Kohli added further.
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson however rued the fact that they didn’t have enough runs on the board to defend. He said, “It was one of those surfaces that if you could get a score on the board, and then squeeze, then you can make life difficult, but 230 wasn’t enough. We weren’t good enough at the top.”
He also praised the middle order for taking them to a total like that but also credited the Indians for their bowling performance.
“Credit to India with the way they bowled. Their opening spell put us under a lot of pressure. However, lot of positives from our middle order to take us to that total. Need to play a lot better to beat these guys,” added Williamson.