Virat Kohli speaks up on Jasprit Bumrah’s no-ball

Pakistan romped to a 180 run win against India in the Champions Trophy Final at the Oval, surprising everyone with their intensity and skill on the night of the final. It was always going to be about which team handled the big occasion better and India looked off right from the outset. The bowlers sprayed the ball around, giving away cheap runs initially and it seemed like ‘containment’ was all that was on their minds.

The Indians dished out a very negative line to Fakhar Zaman, which did help them in containing him in the initial few overs but as he grew in the innings, he toyed with the bowlers big time, taking them for a ride during the middle and the end phase. And to think of it, Bumrah had him gone for 3.

Also Read: Hardik Pandya sends out an emotional tweet after Champions Trophy Loss

Bumrah’s no-ball was a big incident in the match, which did play a huge part in Pakistan setting up that mammoth first innings score. A lot was spoken about the no-ball and how if India would have gotten that early wicket, they could have just run through the Pakistan top order. But indiscipline on Bumrah’s part led to Zaman getting an extra life, and making it count big time.

Since his debut, Bumrah has bowled 13 no-balls, highest by any bowler in world cricket.

In the post match interview Virat Kohli said that cricket is a game of small margins and how those small margins can have a huge, huge bearing.

“Small margins can be massive in cricket. We need to move on and learn from our mistakes.” said Kohli when asked about Bumrah’s no-ball.

Here is the transcript for Kohli’s entire post match interview:

“Indeed (disappointing). Congratulations to Pakistan. The way they turned things around, it was amazing. They can upset anyone on their day. I have a smile on my face because I am very proud of the boys. Credit to Pakistan; they outplayed us. They were more intense and more passionate. With the ball, we could have had more wicket-taking opportunities. Sometimes, the opposition does play very well. Even with the ball, they were very aggressive. Hardik played well. Small margins can be massive in cricket (on the no ball that Fakhar got out to). We need to move on and learn from our mistakes. Not at all (if he should have opted to bat at the toss)”