Legendary Sunil Gavaskar showered praise on the Indian bowling line-up after Men in Blue registered a five-wicket win in the Asia Cup final against Pakistan at Dubai on Sunday. It is a famous adage that ‘batsmen win you games, bowlers win you tournaments’, and Gavaskar reckons the Indian spinners played a key role in India’s success.
Kuldeep Yadav was the star of the tournament as he bagged 17 wickets in seven matches at an average of 9.29 and ended the competition as the leading wicket-taker. Yadav was awarded the MVP of the Asia Cup.
The wrist spinner returned with impressive figures of 4-30 in his quota of four overs in the final against Pakistan and played a key role in skittling Pakistan at 146. Furthermore, Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy bagged seven wickets each in the continental tournament whereas Axar Patel picked six wickets.
Sunil Gavaskar said on Sports Today, “India team showed character, like they showed two days ago against Sri Lanka. The way they came back and got the match tied so that it went into a Super Over. The way the bowlers came back. We will talk about Abhishek Sharma obviously, the fantastic starts that he gave. But, I think this tournament really belonged to the Indian bowlers, to the Indian spinners in particular.
“Kuldeep, Varun Chakaravarthy and Axar Patel. Axar got more overs to bowl in this game because Hardik Pandya was not there. But, this tournament has been won by our bowlers more than anything else,” the 76-year-old added.
On the other hand, Abhishek Sharma top-scored with 314 runs in seven matches of the tournament at an average of 44.86 and a strike rate of 200.
India will next face the West Indies in a two-match Test series at home.
