In the optional practice session days ahead of India's inconsequential Netherlands clash at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, Jasprit Bumrah was at full throttle. Bumrah’s short-of-the-length delivery was too much for his teammate Ishan Kishan to handle. Kishan could not get his bat on the ball as it hit his stomach. Kishan grunted loudly and fell to the ground. The wicketkeeper-batter was helped by support staff to get up and resume practice after a few minutes.
On the other hand, Indian opener Shubman Gill was at his attacking best against Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, and Prasidh Krishna depositing the ball into the stands. But Gill was tested by Bumrah as he did not give him much pacer to work with followed by a tight length outside the off-stump. He bowled with full intensity for 20 minutes.
While Bumrah has been troubling the bowlers early on with the ball, Shami has reaped the benefits of it and taken 16 wickets from just four games.
Bumrah has conceded runs at an economy rate of 3.65 runs per over in the eight matches. Also in the first 10 overs, his economy rate drops 2.9 runs per over.
Only three Indian players did not turn up for optional practice. Virat Kohli, Kuldeep Yadav, Shami, and Suryakumar Yadav opted to skip the session.
On the other hand, the Netherlands led by Scott Edwards lost to defending champions England at MCA Stadium, Pune by a huge margin of 160 runs. With just two wins from eight games, the Dutch side slipped to the bottom of the table as their net run rate (NRR) took a massive hit.
Rohit’s brigade is high on confidence after eight consecutive wins. They were expected to get troubled by South Africa at Eden Gardens, Kolkata but the Proteas batters failed and got bowled out for 83. India won the match by 243 runs to continue their domination in the mega event.
India and the Netherlands will lock horns on November 12. The last time India took on the Netherlands was in the 2011 edition. India bowled them out for 189 and chased down the target with five wickets in hand and 81 balls to spare.
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