Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar has been ruled out of next 2 to 3 World Cup games after he developed a hamstring niggle during the match against Pakistan. The niggle was so serious that the paceman had to walk off the field when he was short of 2 balls to completing his third over. Eventually, the last two balls of that over were completed by the first-time world cup player Vijay Shankar who took a wicket in that spell.
Ironically, Shankar was added to the World Cup Cricket Indian team as a replacement for stylish opener Shikhar Dhawan who hurt his thumb against clash in Australia and has been ruled out of the game for at least a couple of games. With both Bhuvi and Dhawan sitting out due to injuries, it is going to be an uphill task for the Indian team to win the upcoming matches in their absence.
Mohammed Shami To Replace Bhuvi
The Indian skipper has confirmed that Mohammed Shami will replace Bhuvi in the following games. At the post-match presentation ceremony after India thrashed Pakistan by 89 runs, Kohli said,
“Slight niggle for Bhuvi, he slipped on one of the footmarks. He’s out for two, maybe three games, but he should come back for us at some stage during this tournament. He is very important for us.” He further added that “Shami was raring to go”.
India will face Afghanistan (June 22), West Indies (June 27), and England (June 30) in the next three games.
Kohli Praises Rohit Sharma & Kuldeep Yadav
In the match against Pakistan opener, Rohit Sharma scored yet another century in the tournament, his second in the current World Cup. The captain praised his top-order batsmen saying, “The template has been really nice in the first three games till now – Rohit single-handedly winning us the first game, a team effort in the second and today was Rohit’s day again. You could say that to get to 330, you need a team effort, KL set a great foundation with Rohit and Rohit after getting to 70-75 is unstoppable and he showed again why he’s such a good ODI player.”
The captain further added,
“It allowed me to play a certain kind of role and it allowed Hardik to come and explode in the end. It has worked till now, gives us a lot of solidity in the middle and it is a role that I am happy playing for the team. It is going really nicely at the moment.”
Kohli was also happy to see Kuldeep Yadav get his form back. He said, “Kuldeep Yadav was brilliant. Babar and Fakhar were trying to play him out, but I wanted him to have a longer spell. The ball to dismiss Babar was an outstanding delivery. I think today was the best he bowled at this World Cup.”
We Are Following Professional Approach, Says Kohli
When Virat Kohli was asked about the India-Pakistan games that have not lived up to the expectations or hype lately, he said they never fall trap to playing for hype. He added, “I think they outplayed us in the Champions Trophy final (in 2017) but if you focus on this game as too emotional, things can go wrong. We never approach them from that perspective. We are professional about it and the result is what matters.”
