Indian star batter Suryakumar Yadav on Thursday confirmed that pacer Jasprit Bumrah is fit and ready to play the second T20 of the three-match series against Australia.
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Speaking at the pre-match press conference on the eve of the second T20 with Australia, Suryakumar shed light on the pacer's fitness. Bumrah was not part of the playing eleven for the first T20 in Mohali. Bumrah had been out of action due to injury and had gone through rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) before being selected for the Australia series and World Cup squad.
"Bumrah is fit and ready to play in the second match," Suryakumar said. The second T20I against Australia will be held at Nagpur on Friday. Suryakumar gave credit to the Australia team for their batting in the first T20I and said there was a dew factor.
"We have not sat down to discuss the bowling performance genuinely but as you saw in the last game, the match went to the last over and there was a lot of dew. The Aussies also batted beautifully, credit to them. We are trying our best," he said.
Suryakumar also explained Rohit's animated gestures on the field, mentioning such incidents are necessary to keep the pressure off. "On the field, there is a lot of pressure, hence to normalize the situation a bit of laughter is required. Such banter is necessary," explained the batter.
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Defending the attacking approach taken by the team, he said, "Assessing the pitch is very important. Everyone knows their responsibility and roles in the team. Openers know their role. After the openers, the middle order knows its role. Everything is going well. We will try to do the same thing again.
"Shedding light on his style of batting, the batter said, "I have a very flexible batting, I plan for every situation. Preparations have been very good. Everyone is performing their role very good and whenever I come in to bat, I perform my role."
The batter defended the performance of bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel saying that the bowlers' slower balls are still deceptive and not easy to get."Bhuvi and Harshal slower balls are deceptive and very difficult to get. Harshal has just returned from the injury, let us cut him some slack."
