“It’s all about giving opportunity”: Rohit Sharma explains why Avesh Khan bowled last over ahead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar in 2nd T20 vs West Indies

Rohit Sharma explains why Avesh Khan bowled last over: The Indian captain made some atypical bowling changes at the Warner Park tonight.

India captain Rohit Sharma is proud of his boys for taking the second T20I against West Indies to the last over in Basseterre tonight.

Defending a 139-run target, India managed to remain alive in the match until West Indies wicket-keeper batter Devon Thomas hit a six and a four off consecutive deliveries in the last over. Barring Bhuvneshwar Kumar, all other Indian bowlers picked a wicket apiece to not let the opposition run away chasing a below par target.

“Proud of the team. When you are defending a target like that, it can end in 13-14 overs or you try to drag it to the last over. Guys kept fighting, it was important to take wickets. The planning we did, the guys came and executed. Happy with bowlers,” Sharma told ESPN Caribbean during the post-match presentation ceremony.

Apart from West Indies leveling the series 1-1 with three more matches to be played, they have also been able to bring an end to an abysmal 12-match losing streak spanning across some 33 months against India. In what was only their third match across formats in St Kitts, India are yet to register a win at the Warner Park.

Rohit Sharma explains why Avesh Khan bowled last over ahead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar

With West Indies needing 38 runs in five overs with seven wickets in hand, Sharma would’ve easily bowled pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s remaining two overs in the general run of things. The same would’ve been a certainty with any opposition requiring 27 runs in the last three overs of a T20I against India.

However, Kumar not bowling outside of his first spell was primarily done to provide death-bowling opportunities to the likes of Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya. While Singh managed to concede only 10 runs in his two death overs, Khan and Pandya leaked boundaries leading to an Indian loss.

“It’s all about giving opportunity. We know Bhuvneshwar [Kumar], what he brings to the table, but if you don’t give opportunity to Avesh [Khan] or Arshdeep [Singh], you will never find out what it means to bowl at the death for India,” Sharma added without sounding concerned for Khan who gave away 12 runs in just two balls of the 20th over.

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Put in to bat first, Sharma got out for a golden duck for the fourth time in his T20I career. A first-ball wicket was followed by India losing wickets at regular intervals. An innings which never really got going found the visitors getting bundled out for 138 in 19.4 overs. Even at the cost of sounding repetitive, Sharma reiterated how such things will happen during the journey of revamping their T20I batting approach.

“It was not enough runs on the board for us. We didn’t bat well. Pitch was playing quite nicely but we didn’t apply ourselves. But that can happen. I have said again and again that when you are trying something as a batting group, it won’t work out always. We will try to see our mistakes and look to correct them,” Sharma mentioned.