Former New Zealand cricket team fast bowler Simon Doull believes that Australia have come up with a ‘clever’ plan to counter Jasprit Bumrah during the Border-Gavaskar Test series. In a recent discussion on JioCinema, Doull pointed out that Bumrah will be the ‘biggest threat’ for Australia in the series and he thinks that the hosts are trying to ‘cook’ him with the scheduling. According to the ex-NZ star, Australia will tire out Bumrah with the first Test taking place in the ‘heat’ of Perth followed up by the pink-ball Test in Adelaide – something that may force India to rest him in the middle of the series.

“What Australia have done smartly is scheduling. They know that while batters are going to be key in some shape or form, their biggest threat is Jasprit Bumrah. So they have gone with the three hardest and fastest surfaces, plus the Pink-Ball Test. They are trying to cook Bumrah. They will cook him in the heat of Perth, where he will have to bowl a lot of overs. Then he is going to have to go and bowl a lot of overs in that second pink-ball Test match in Adelaide. And then you’ve got to go to Brisbane where generally, first up, the seamers are quite good as well,” he said.

“So we’re going to cook Bumrah in the first two, three Test matches, make sure he bowls a lot of overs. And then they’re going to have to make a change. They’re going to have to go to someone else. So I think the scheduling from Australia’s point of view has been quite smart because very rarely do they start a series in Perth,” the former New Zealand fast bowler added.

Meanwhile, Sunil Gavaskar on Monday said that if India captain Rohit Sharma is not playing in the first Test against Australia in the upcoming marquee series, then Jasprit Bumrah should lead the side for the entire tour Down Under.

He said Rohit, whenever he comes in, should participate in the series only as a player.

The Australia tour for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy begins on November 22 in Perth, and Rohit is likely to miss the first match as his wife is expecting their second child. He is expected to join the team from the second game of the series.

Rohit is, however, not sure about the schedule yet.

In the absence of Rohit, Bumrah is likely to captain the team in Perth.

“It is important for the captain to play the first Test match. It’s different if he is injured, but if he is not available, then the deputy leader will be under a lot of pressure,” Gavaskar said on Sports Tak.

“I have been reading that Rohit Sharma might not play the first two Tests of the Australia series. I feel that, in that case the selection committee should appoint Jasprit Bumrah the captain of the side for the entire Australia tour, and tell Rohit Sharma that you will participate as a player in this series. For the first Test match, Rohit Sharma has to be there.”

(With PTI inputs)

File photo of Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill© BCCI/IPL

Former New Zealand cricketer and broadcaster Simon Doull lambasted Indian batters for their poor batting performance against spinners Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips during the second Test against New Zealand at Pune, saying that it is a misconception that modern Indian players are good against tweakers, rather they are as vulnerable as overseas batters on good turning tracks. A shambolic batting performance during the first inning of the Pune Test might have just put the hosts India at a rare risk of a series loss home and has put their 12-year, 18 series-long unbeaten record at in jeopardy.

Speaking after India’s innings on air, Doull said that the it is not true that Indian players currently are as good as against spin as their older counterparts in Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid etc. He said even during the Indian Premier League (IPL), whenever pitches turn, players complain about it.

“I think it is a misconception around the world now that these modern Indian players are better playing spin than anyone else. They are not. They are the same as everyone else around the world. Gone are the days of Ganguly, Gambhir, Laxman and Dravid. Sachin was so, so good against spin, and the era before them. I think good quality spinners are just as good as getting India out on turning tracks as Indian spinners against good quality opposition batters. And the moment they see a turning track in IPL, they complain,” he said.

Coming to the match, NZ won the toss and opted to bat first. It was half-centuries from Devon Conway (76 in 141 balls, with 11 fours) and Rachin Ravindra (65 in 105 balls, with five fours and a six) that gave Kiwis a huge platform before Washington’s seven-fer triggered a collapse, taking NZ from 197/3 to 259 all out. Ashwin (3/64) also delivered a fine spell with the ball.

India was 16/1 at the end of day one’s play. On day two, Mitchell Santner triggered a massive batting collapse with his figures of 7/53, bundling out India for just 156 runs and giving NZ a lead of 103 runs. Ravindra Jadeja (38 in 45 balls, with three fours and two sixes), Shubman Gill (30 in 72 balls, with two fours and a six) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (30 in 60 balls, with four boundaries) played some decent knocks.

NZ is in their second innings and would like to take the lead as far as possible to set a formidable target for India and hand them a rare series loss at home after 12 years.

Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma© AFP

Former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull has revealed that he has been receiving death threats for his criticism of India and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Virat Kohli. While the cricketer-turned-commentator has often labelled Kohli as the greatest batter of his generation, he also doesn’t shy away from criticising him whenever he needs to. As an observer of the game, Doull was one of several former players who had criticised Kohli for his batting strike rate during the initial phase of IPL 2024.

Kohli had also voiced his anger over the criticism of his batting approach, saying that he doesn’t like people to tell him how to construct him, considering that he has been winning games for over a decade.

While RCB’s wait for an IPL title continued, Kohli ended the season as the highest run-getter. He scored 741 runs in 15 matches at an average of 154.7.

During a discussion, Kohli’s RCB teammate Dinesh Karthik suggested that the star batter thrives in such situations as he likes to prove his critics wrong.

“Virat Kohli would like to write a book on how he was this year. He started okay. Thanks to people like Simon (Doull) and a few others who really spurred him on. And you know that side of Virat Kohli. I think that he thrives on that. He is someone who inadvertently holds on to certain things to do well. He loves people proving wrong. Even though he might not come out and say this, it really fuels his passion. He is like a molten lava coming out. He is fiery and you don’t want to be anywhere close to him because you are going to get burnt for sure,” Karthik on Cricbuzz after the IPL 2024 final with Doull also part of the discussion.

Doull emphasised that nobody really cares when he praises Kohli, but a minor criticism of the star batter often leads to him getting death threats from the so called fans

“He’s too good to worry about what if he gets out. He’s too good a player, and that was always my point around him. I said a thousand great things about Virat Kohli, but I say one thing that might be slightly negative or construed to be negative, I get death threats,” Doull pointed out during the same discussion.

Doull further suggested that he has nothing personal against Kohli as he often speaks to him before or after the games.

“It’s never personal. We’ve had great conversations. I’ve interviewed him at tosses, we’ve talked after games, there’s never been an issue. It’s the same thing I said about Babar and talked to him after the game. He also told me that the coach had said that same to him,” he added.

Karthik condemned the death threats against Doull, urging the Indian fans to find the difference between constructive criticism and someone taking personal jibes.

“That’s pretty sad to hear though…You go to basketball, football games and you see pundits speak about the game. I think the Indian fans should really find out the difference between people taking it personally or people talking about his cricketing side. Virat really appreaciates that,” Karthik asserted.

Simon Doull said that the Indian players are “too worried about stats”.© AFP