Without Jasprit Bumrah, India’s bowling is zero: Junaid Khan

Jasprit Bumrah. (Source – Getty Images)

Former Pakistan cricketer Junaid Khan criticized India’s abysmal bowling performance during their 0-2 defeat in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka. On Wednesday, August 7, the Men in Blue lost the all-important third ODI as Sri Lanka managed to beat their neighbours in a bilateral ODI series for the first time since 1997.

During the recently concluded series, the Sri Lankan managed to bowl out India in every game. However, the tourists couldn’t bowl out the Lankan Lions even once. Sri Lanka won the toss on all three occasions and opted to bat first on pitches that kept on crumbling as the games went along. While this turned out to be a huge advantage for their bowlers, it has to be said that their Indian counterparts didn’t look as minacious.

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Junaid said that India’s bowling attack is “zero” without Jasprit Bumrah, who was rested for this series. The former Pakistan speedster asked cricket fans whether they agreed with his opinion.

“Would you agree? Without Bumrah, India’s bowling is zero,” Junaid wrote on his official ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) handle.

Sri Lankan bowlers dominated proceedings during the series as Jeffrey Vandersay (8), Dunith Wellalage (7), and Charith Asalanka (6) finished as the top three wicket-takers, respectively. Indian batters encountered a lot of problems while facing the Sri Lankan spinners, including part-timer Asalanka.

Among the Indian batters, captain Rohit Sharma stood out as he got his team off to flying starts in all three games. The Mumbai batter finished as the highest run-scorer in the series, amassing 157 runs in three games at an average of 52.33 and a strike rate of 141.4. However, the problems for India started surfacing in every game after Rohit’s dismissal.

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India’s next assignment is a two-match home Test series against Bangladesh, starting with the first game in Chennai on September 19. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka are set to travel to the United Kingdom to play a three-match Test series against England.