Bit Disappointed With The Way I Bowled, But Nice To Get The Wicket Of Virat Kohli - Mitchell Swepson

Australian leg-spinner, Mitchell Swepson feels upset about his performance in the first T20I against India on Friday in Canberra. Despite taking the wicket of the Indian captain, Virat Kohli, Swepson is disappointed as he didn’t bowl well enough and returned with the figures of 1/21 in just 2 overs.

Swepson started off horribly with two short-pitched deliveries- one of which, KL Rahul dispatched for a boundary. On the fourth ball of the over, the leggie once again dished out a half-tracker. However, this time he was lucky as Kohli top-edged it and spooned a catch back to the bowler.

The 27-year-old didn’t learn from mistakes in his first over as he continued bowling short-pitched stuff. Sanju Samson muscled him for a maximum before Rahul put another delivery to the boundary line. He was not called again for bowling in the innings.

Mitchell Swepson made his international T20 debut in 2018 against England. However, he was never picked again until recently- on Friday, and it was only his second game. Swepson has produced brilliant performances in the domestic season recently. He has picked 3 five-wicket hauls in his last 4 innings for Queensland, along with a decent show in the previous Big Bash League which prompted a call back to the national set up.

I was just over-excited: Mitchell Swepson

In the virtual press conference, Mitchell Swepson admitted his disappointment in the way he bowled. The Queensland bowler acknowledges that he wasn’t at his best, and was relieved to take the wicket of the Indian skipper.

Speaking to the broadcaster, Sony, Mitchell Swepson said, “Look, a little bit disappointed I guess, in the way I bowled last night. So I think my first three balls weren’t great. So to get the wicket on the fourth and especially Virat’s (Kohli) wicket was I guess a bit of pressure relief.”

Swepson concedes that he was just over-excited for a grand occasion bowling to the Indian batsman, in particular Virat Kohli, which added extra pressure over him. The leg-spinner believes that the nerves got the better of him, and thus he didn’t bowl well. Swepson is disappointed but finds a positive of picking up Kohli’s wicket.

As Ashton Agar is ruled out of the T20I series with an injury, the leg-spinner will get another crack at the men in blue in order to impress the selectors for future games as a T20 World Cup is scheduled for next year.

“I was obviously just so excited to be out there and that over-excitement, added with the pressure of wanting to do really well and perform on the international stage.

“Throw in a couple of nerves as well and I just sort of tensed up a little bit when I got my opportunity to bowl. So, overall, quite disappointed with the way I bowled, but it’s always nice to get a wicket like that,” Mitchell Swepson added.

On the back of Ravindra Jadeja’s 44* off 23 balls and Yuzvendra Chahal’s 3-wicket haul, India defeated the hosts by 11 runs. The second T20I is scheduled for Sunday in Sydney.

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