Indian captain Rahul Dravid, whose on-field decisions have quite often
defied logic, has admitted that asking Yuvraj Singh to bowl the last over
in the sixth cricket one-dayer against England was a "bad" move.
Dravid's inexplicable ploy to ask Yuvraj to bowl the last over very nearly cost
India the crucial match at the Oval as Dimitri Mascarenhas launched a brutal
assault by clobbering the part-time bowler for five consecutive sixes.
"It looked like a bad decision (to bowl Yuvraj). Our fast
bowlers were going for 14-15 runs an over. I thought Yuvi bowled a good 48th
for us. I just took a gamble with him," Dravid said.
While Dravid was justified in not giving the ball to an erratic
Ajit Agarkar, who had already proved quite expensive, it was surprising
that he did not consider Ramesh Powar for the last over.
The burly spinner has generally been economical and could have
done a better job than a part-timer like Yuvraj.
Mascarenhas' heroics in the final over forced Dravid to acknowledge
that he still does not have a plan for death bowling that could work.
"When somebody gets hit for 30 in an over you wonder a
bit; we tried some different combinations over the series and it did not work
out," Dravid said.
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