Bumrah's no ball should not be blamed for the defeat: Rohit Sharma

Team Indian skipper Rohit Sharma certainly did not have the best of starts as the captain of the Indian team. The men in blue suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka in the firs ODI at Dharamsala. After being bowled out for a paltry 112 in the match, the Indians did have a glimmer of hope with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah bowling well up front.

Two quick wickets in the Sri Lankan innings had put the Indian side right back in the game. With this scene, Bumrah managed to get an edge of Upul Tharanga’s bat that was pocketed in the gully. Much to the disappointment of the Indian team, the ball turned out to be a no ball. Bumrah received a lot of criticism for his no ball.

Defending Bumrah, Rohit Sharma conceded that there was nothing much that he could have done about it. Also, he noted that the wicket would not have made much difference to the context of the game. In fact, it was the batsmen failure that cost the team the match and not just Bumrah’s no ball.

“We lost the game with the bat and not with the ball. It will be unfair to single out one individual, especially a bowler. I think we as a batting group failed. Nobody knew it will happen but this is the game that we play and they go out there trying their best. I wouldn’t say it cost us dearly, because there was not enough total on the board. If we were defending 180-190, but if you are defending 110, you can hardly do anything except with the new ball and comeback into the game,” quoted the Indian captain.

Nic Pothas believes the other way

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan interim coach cited the no ball to be a defining moment in the match. He mentioned that the pressure of being 15/3 would have been a different ball game altogether. Upul went on to play a vital knock for the team and helped the team to take the 1-0 lead.

“I firmly believe that there were two massive moments in the game. It had to be said that the toss was massive in the game and the no ball to Upul Tharanga. If you lose another one we are suddenly 15 for three and that is hugely different situation. We have looked at two situations where for me they sort of defined the day,” conceded the Sri Lankan coach.