Colombo: After bundling out Sri Lanka for 50 on Sunday, Indian captain Rohit Sharma couldn’t hide his delight at the performance of his fast bowlers and said the variety they give to the team is extremely important.
Pacer Mohammed Siraj bowled a wonderful spell (6 for 21) that laid the foundation for India’s 10-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final.
“I get a lot of satisfaction when I see fast bowlers perform like this. All the captains take a lot of pride in fast bowling (at their disposal), and I am no different. We have got a fantastic set of fast bowlers,” Rohit said at the post-match media conference.
“All of them have different skill sets and variations – one can bowl quick, one can swing the ball, one can get good bounce. When you get all of these aspects in one team, it is a feel-good factor,” added Rohit.
Rohit said Siraj was so high on adrenaline after an unbroken seven-over spell that yielded six wickets, and it required a word from the team trainer to stop the pacer from bowling.
“It was very pleasing to watch from the slips (how Siraj bowled). He got the ball to move a bit more than the other two. We were riding behind him (Siraj) when he was bowling that spell,” the skipper said.
“He bowled seven overs in that spell, and I got a message from the trainer that we have to stop him now. He was quite desperate to bowl,” said Rohit with a chuckle.
However, Rohit said he was not planning to give Siraj another over.
“He bowled seven overs, which is a lot. Siraj was in a similar situation against SL in Trivandrum, and he had bowled some 8-9 overs on the trot,” he added.
Rohit also heaped praise on left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who was later adjudged ‘Player of the tournament’.
“Kuldeep has done very well under pressure. He bowled well against Sri Lanka (Super 4 match) and we won despite posting a small total.”
“His confidence has been going up over the last two years or so. He drags the team back into the match from any situation,” said Rohit.
The Mumbaikar said the Asia Cup triumph has come at the right time for the team, and they have taken a lot of positives from the tournament ahead of the World Cup, starting next month.
“Throughout the tournament the guys stood up under pressure, and they performed their roles. We were slightly below par in some games (in fielding), but overall, our fielding was very good, slip fielding especially.
“We will have off days on the field, which is fine as long as you bounce back well the next day,” he added.
