IND vs SL 2017: Bumrah's No ball Should not be Blamed for the Defeat - Rohit Sharma

The men in blues under their new captain Rohit Sharma didn’t have a good start to the limited-overs series, as they suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka by seven wickets after getting bowled out for a mere 112 in Dharamsala.

Sri Lanka opted to bowl first after winning the toss and exploited the bounce and swing offered by the pitch to a great extent to put the star-studded Indian batting line-up in trouble.

Also Read: IND vs SL, 1st ODI: Jasprit Bumrah No-ball Was The Turning Point, Says Nic Pothas

In reply, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah provided a brilliant start to the Indian team, as they picked up two early wickets. Along with that, Bumrah managed to get an edge of Upul Tharanga’s bat that was grabbed easily in the gully. Much to the disappointment of the Indian team, the ball turned out to be a no ball. Bumrah was once again under the radar of criticism for bowling no balls.

However, the young fast bowler had his captain Rohit Sharma behind his back, as Sharma said there was nothing much he could do about it. He also stated the wicket would not have made much difference to the context of the game. In fact, it was because of the batsmen failure that handed us the defeat and not just Bumrah’s no ball.

Also Read: India v Sri Lanka 2017: Rohit Sharma Reveals why Ajinkya Rahane missed 1st ODI

“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 would 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 come back into the game,” Rohit Sharma was heard saying after the match.

On the other hand, Nic Pothas, the interim Sri Lankan coach is of the view that the no-ball was the defining moment of the match.

Also Read: IND vs SL 2017: Ajit Agarkar Feels Hardik Pandya Needs To Work More On His Bowling

“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 the hugely different situation. We have looked at two situations where for me they sort of defined the day,” Pothas stated.

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