IND vs WI: Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar Reveal Their Thought Process During Final Two Overs In 2nd T20I

Indian pace bowlers Harshal Patel and Bhuvneshwar Kumar managed to hold their own in the dying stages of the second T20I against West Indies that took place at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Friday.

Chasing down 187, the Windies needed 29 runs in the last two overs. Bhuvneshwar bowled the penultimate over where he conceded just four runs, leaving Harshal to defend 25 in the final. The equation was brought down to 23 off 4 when Rovman Powell smashed two sixes in a row.

All that Harshal had to do was bowl one good ball and he managed to do so, ensuring India pockets the series with one game to go. Speaking with bowling coach, Paras Mhambrey, the duo revealed what was going through their minds.

“Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) had made my job easy. I only had to bowl two dot balls. I knew these guys could hit four sixes, it is not difficult for them. I wanted to bowl yorkers and keep Powell away from the strike because he was well set.”

“Two balls were not executed well and he got under it. We know how powerful they are and that was always on my mind. But I was confident of my execution and did not get confused at any point. Overall, I am quite happy with my performance,” Harshal told on BCCI.tv.

“Had decided that I would not bowl slower balls to Powell” – Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Bhuvneshwar mentioned that he was wary about trying the slower balls against the big Windies batters, realising in the previous over bowled by Deepak Chahar that they weren’t quite gripping as usual.

“I had decided that I would not bowl slower balls to Powell. (Deepak) Chahar tried those in the previous over but the balls did not grip. I backed myself to bowl yorkers and luckily I managed to execute them well.”

“There was pressure bowling the penultimate over. West Indies needed 29 runs to win. My thought was to not give more than 9-10 runs because the probability of defending 15-20 in the last over is a good one. Luckily, the over went quite well and I conceded only 4. Whatever I tried – yorkers, slower bouncers – they were properly executed,” Bhuvneshwar revealed.

The 8-run victory has guaranteed another PayTm trophy for the home side and they will be keen to test their bench strength in the final game.

Also Read – IND vs WI: The Aerial Shots Were Refreshing, Showed Different Purpose – Sunil Gavaskar On Virat Kohli’s Knock In 2nd T20I Against West Indies