India vs Australia: Harsha Bhogle comes out in defence of Umesh Yadav

With just 126 runs on the board, the Indian bowlers did excellently to make a match out of it. Australia were cruising along at one stage when Glenn Maxwell and D’Arcy Short were at the crease. But some tight bowling and wickets at regular intervals helped India claw their way back in the game. Jasprit Bumrah bowled a terrific penultimate over conceding just two runs and picking up two wickets in two balls. Bumrah’s heroics meant that Australia needed 14 runs off the final over and Pat Cummins and Jhye Richardson were at the crease.

However, Umesh Yadav failed to defend 14 runs as the Aussie pace bowling duo took the visitors over the line off the final delivery. The Vidarbha pacer has faced a lot of flak for not being able to close the game. There’s been a lot of people calling Yadav ‘a villain’ for his under-par performance. He has also been subject to trolls after the game.

However, cricket commentator and analyst Harsha Bhogle came out in defence of the 31-year-old pacer. He felt there are no villains in the game and people just have good and bad days. The 56-year-old who is commentating in the on-going series took to Twitter to express his disappointment.

Am hearing terrible words like "villain" used in the context of the last over yesterday. The only villains in sport are those that have a stake in losing. The others,like us,have good days and bad; they win some, lose some. If you call someone a villain,you don't understand sport

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) February 25, 2019

Jasprit Bumrah also defends Umesh Yadav

Jasprit Bumrah was absolutely phenomenal in the first T20I. His spell of 3/16 opened up the game for India and it was the penultimate over which he bowled made India the favorites at one point. It was his first limited-overs game of 2019. He was rested for the ODIs in Australia and the entire tour of New Zealand. Hence, Bumrah had a successful return.

Umesh Yadav has been under fire for his failure to defend 14 runs in the last over. But Bumrah came out in defence of his teammate and said that the execution sometimes comes off and sometimes it doesn’t. “You try your best, and you’re clear in your execution. Some days it works, some days it doesn’t. Nothing to be worried. We wanted to close the game in our favour but it’s okay,” India’s premier pacer Bumrah said in the press conference after the game.

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