Former Team India head coach and commentator, Ravi Shastri, wasn’t really pleased with Rohit Sharma’s captaincy during the 14th match of the ongoing IPL 2022 between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Wednesday (April 6).
He questioned Mumbai Indians’ (MI) captain Rohit Sharma’s tactics, as the Kolkata Knight Rider (KKR) chased down 162 runs in 16 overs with five wickets in hand to jump to the top of the IPL 2022 points table.
Following MI’s big loss to KKR, Shastri said that the franchisee doesn’t have depth in their bowling attack this season while mentioning that Bumrah should always not be held back for the death overs, he should be used in the crunch moments of the match.
Ravi Shastri told Star Sports: “I just feel the use of Bumrah has to be better. Sometimes you’re just not getting the best out of him because you don’t have depth in your bowling. So instead of looking for the wickets, you just keep him for one or two players or for the death (slog overs).”
He added, “At the time it doesn’t matter if you’re Bumrah or anyone, you will go for runs. If the batsman is in that kind of mood, if the momentum is with the batting side at that stage, you will go for runs.”
Shastri further said that Bumrah should be used in important periods of the game, rather than during slog overs.
He further explained, “You would rather use him to get wickets at important periods, rather than keeping all those overs at the back, waiting for if Russell I’ll give Bumrah. But then, if it’s too late, there’s no Russell, someone else did the job.”
Shastri concluded, “Bumrah has to be used better, the attacking options have to be used better, you cannot keep them for the tail end of the innings just because there are one or two big hitters in the side. You’ve got to try and knock them over early, try and get some early wickets to put some serious pressure on the opposition. In the first six overs, when there’s a sticky track, a spongy bounce there, there is bounce. You can try and knock over at least three wickets if not more.”
(With Star Sports Inputs)
