The BCCI awards night on Sunday also offered insights into which bowler or batter do the winning captains of India’s various cricket teams trust.
Trust enough, to hand them the ball in the last over defending a score, or send them in to bat hypothetically, in pursuit of a target.
For , who famously handed the ball to albeit well after New Zealand were blown away, the freshly minted T20 skipper chose his franchise mate, and perhaps the world’s best bowler, . “Taking no credit away from Arshdeep,” he would diligently add. Arshdeep had bowled tight at the death through this WC cycle, but Bumrah is unparalleled.
For a batsman? “I’d go with Hardik,” he said picking his captain, as finisher with the bat. Hardik would later tell Harsha Bhogle that the bunch of stars all clumped at , him, Surya, Rohit, Bumrah, had been playing for a long time so he was assured of their love and trust.
Hardik also revealed he would stick to his blond hair, since he’d “grown tired of the black.”
The fun rapid fire was directed to Harman too.
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She picked Deepti Sharma as the bowler she would turn to. And in batting, her choice was Smriti Mandhana who finished the season with , and player of the year.
The question turned playful when posed to . As ODI captain, he would’ve been horrified with the T20 habit of bowling wide yorkers, one right headache if it seeped into 50 over bowling. So, he made picking Arshdeep for the role, conditional. “Arshdeep, if he doesn’t bowl wide yorkers!” Gill would chortle in a half joke, explaining, with those wide yorkers plays, “sometimes that last one over can becomes two overs!” (If deemed a wide).
To polish off a target when batting, Gill would go with “Rohit bhai” trusting his predecessor to tear down scores easily.
The trio were also asked what match they’d pick if they could swoosh a wand, go back in time and replay it. Surya reckoned, 2023 vs Australia needed replaying. “2023, I’d want to re play and win it,” he said.
For Harman too, it was the missed opportunity of ab ODI WC. “World Cup final 2017, if not the whole match, the last 10 overs if we can please play that again,” she recalled of a haunted headspace when India lost to England. Just like Jemi did, Harman had helped Mithali Raj reach finals defeating Australia, but India lost to England.
For Shubman, he chose an unorthodox and rather contented Oval Test win. “The Oval match we won just to relive the experience,” he would add.
