T20 World Cup 2021: “Could have gone for their trump card up front” – Zaheer Khan explains what India could have done differently

Former India pacer Zaheer Khan reckons Virat Kohli might have missed a trick by not opening the bowling with Jasprit Bumrah in the T20 World Cup 2021 game against Pakistan.

Defending a total of 151 against Pakistan in Dubai, Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled the first over for India while Mohammed Shami the second. By the time Bumrah came on to bowl the third over, Pakistan’s openers had settled into good rhythm.

According to Khan, while there is no doubt that Pakistan outplayed India in all departments on Sunday, India, perhaps, ended up under-utilising their bowling trump card Bumrah. In a discussion on Cricbuzz, the former pacer said:

“You have your plans before the game, but once you are in the game, you’ve just got to go with it – maybe change certain things that you had planned. Maybe you could have used Bumrah differently. By the time the game finished, you had under-utilised Bumrah.”

Elaborating further on how Kohli could have used Bumrah, Khan added:

“They could have gone for their trump card right up front rather than getting him into the game in the third over. Starting with him might have turned things around a bit.”

“But these are things in hindsight. At times, you stick to the strategy which you have made. I am sure the think-tank in the innings break would have thought about it and chosen otherwise. But who would have expected that the two openers would just carry the innings through.”

Bumrah ended up bowling three overs for 22 runs in Sunday’s game. Kumar conceded 25 in his three, while Shami was hammered for 43 in 3.5 overs.

“Dew factor did play a role” – Zaheer Khan feels India needed cushion of extra runs

Sent into bat after losing the toss, India could only manage 151 for 7. They lost Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul cheaply, after which Virat Kohli (57) and Rishabh Pant (39) steadied the innings. Admitting that dew played a role while India bowled, Zaheer Khan said that India did not get enough runs to counter the threat of due. He explained:

“The dew factor did play a role. Having said that, when you know that dew is going to be a factor, you’ve got to have that extra cushion of 20-25 runs on the board, just to stay on top of things.”

“But today wasn’t the case. Right throughout the game, you saw Pakistan in control of the game. They showed the intent, and India was always trying to catch up in this particular game, which was pretty evident.”

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After going down to Pakistan by ten wickets, India will next face New Zealand in Dubai on October 31.