Jasprit Bumrah admits bowlers gave away too many runs in death overs

Jasprit Bumrah has admitted West Indies’ lower order batted well and that India’s bowlers gave away too many runs in the final overs as Virat Kohli’s side lost the Pune ODI by 43 runs on Saturday.

Speaking in the post-match press conference, Bumrah said, “Till the 35th over, we were pretty good. Yes, we gave a little bit of runs in the end, so may be that could be the difference. Overall, the bowling performance was not too bad. They played well and you have to give credit to the batsmen.”

After the end of 44 overs, West Indies had slumped to 227/8 and were in danger of being bowled out for a below-par score. But, Ashley Nurse’s attacking 40 off 22 balls and his 56-run stand with Kemar Roach (15) for the ninth wicket helped West Indies reach 283/9, which meant India conceded 56 runs in the last six overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, after having missed the first two ODIs, looked rusty and ended up with figures of 10-0-70-1, including conceding 21 runs in the 49^th over.

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However, Bumrah defended his new-ball partner. "Bhuvi started well, but in the middle or in the end (went for runs), it can happen sometimes. When you bowl at the depth, it is difficult. It is not necessary that all bowlers will click every-time.” Bumrah said.

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Even skipper Virat Kohli, who scored his 38^th century, including his third consecutive in the series, admitted India gave away too many runs in the end.

“We should've been chasing 250-260, max, but that apart the bowling was fine. Just that we gave away a little in the last 10 overs and should've closed it out better. We couldn't get partnerships, which doesn't happen often. We were fine on the field. We didn't execute our plans properly,” Kohli said.

The next match of the five-match series takes place at the Brabourne stadium on October 30.