NZ v IND 2020: Surprised by his ODI failures, Turner foresees Bumrah's strong comeback during Tests 

India is at the top of the World Test championship points table going into the two-match series.

Jasprit Bumrah | GettyFormer New Zealand skipper Glenn Turner was left pleasantly surprised with his countrymen's dominating 3-0 series whitewash in the ODIs against a mighty Indian side; result borne out of the rare failure of the visitors' bowling attack led by pacer Jasprit Bumrah, whom Turner expects to bounce back strongly during the two-match Test series, starting in Wellington on February 21. 

Turner foresees a powerful statement from Bumrah and his fast bowling partner Mohammad Shami with the red cherry, although it'll be difficult for them to quickly adjust to the longest format game after playing so much white-ball cricket on the tour. 

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"I have no time at all for T20 cricket. It's a blot on the game. 50-over cricket, you can have a game. Technically, I felt bowling from both sides have been way below than what I had expected at international levels in both formats," Turner told TOI

"At the moment, New Zealand have their nose ahead but I have been rather surprised, that has been the case. India have shown in three-match series they have several whats and I am surprised that they have not performed better than they have," he added. 

Turner acknowledged Bumrah as a great "natural talent" and also heaped effusive praise over Shami, backing him to continue delivering the goods.

"He (Bumrah) has got natural talent despite being unorthodox in his bowling action. He tends to come off the pitch quicker than you would expect and has accuracy," he said. "He has had a good warm-up bowling 10 overs in ODIs but then limited-overs doesn't help in building stamina for bowling 25 overs a day."

"Shami has shown he is a talent and has great stamina. It's almost in my mind, once Test matches start, the theory of how you should bowl under certain circumstances in limited-overs cricket tends to be sidelined," Turner added. "That being the case, I would expect the Indian bowling to be better than what we have seen."

While India is on top of the World Test Championship points table with seven victories in as many games of the cycle thus far, Black Caps find themselves sixth in the nine-team ladder following their disastrous tour to Australia in December-January. 

(Inputs from PTI)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 14 Feb, 2020

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