We did a good job as a bowling unit: Kuldeep Yadav

The Windies were set a target of 322, after Virat Kohli made history with another imperious century to take his side to 321/6 in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday, 24 October. Hope’s hundred then anchored the chase, with young Shimron Hetmyer making sure the asking rate was in control with his 94 off 64 balls. Windies needed 14 off the final over, bowled by Umesh Yadav, and five off the last ball – Hope dispatched it to the boundary to thrillingly tie the score. “I was hoping that he’d bowl to the field,” Hope told presspersons after the game. “So we knew a wide yorker was coming. “I got enough bat on it to get it to the boundary. I was trying to get more bat on it for a six and a win. It didn’t happen. But we didn’t lose the game, and that’s one positive we can take.” Hope said his aim had been “just to be free” and to bat deep. When Hetmyer was the fourth wicket to fall in the 32nd over, the team still had 101 runs to get. “I was actually struggling to get bat on ball at one point,” he admitted. “And [No. 8 Ashley] Nurse, he’s down for big hitting. So the key was just to get bat on ball and push as many twos, and get the odd boundary. The guys were bowling big yorkers so it wasn’t easy.” “It was very difficult to bowl in the dew,” said India’s Kuldeep Yadav, who finished with 3/67. “The square was quick and the ball gets wet. It was difficult for a spinner. I was feeling uncomfortable gripping the ball.” Yet, the bowing unit was happy with their performance, he insisted. After all, at one point, the opposition needed only 63 runs from the final ten overs. “These type of things (dew) will come in the future. We need to practise a lot,” Yadav said. “At one stage we were out of the game. So we’ve done a really good job as a bowling unit.” Hetmyer, who made a century in the first game, took the attack to the Indians, smashing four fours and seven sixes. According to Yadav, that changed the momentum of the game. Hope called the youngster “Master Blaster 2.0”, and Yadav too was all praise. “He played brilliantly,” said the Indian left-arm wrist-spinner. “In the first game he took our bowlers on and today as well. It was very difficult to bowl to him due to dew. He was batting really well. We were trying to contain runs, but that didn’t happen.”