Dangerous batsman David Warner, who scored an unbeaten hundred in Australia’s mauling of India in the first ODI at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, stated that he was surprised by the bouncers and the yorkers that Jasprit Bumrah bowled during the game. On asked about how he had prepared to negate the threat of Bumnrah, who had a rare off day in the game, Warner said that it was about keeping still.
“It’s about being nice and still. I can’t imagine someone like Brett Lee running in from almost the boundary and just sort of staggering in there and all of a sudden bowl 150kmph, it takes a while to get used to and that’s a great skill from Bumrah.”
“His (Bumrah’s) bouncers surprise you, his yorkers surprise you and then when he bowls the change-up it’s very, very difficult, it’s like when Lasith Malinga at his prime, he bowled 140kmph and swung them.
”… But you knew you were going to get a yorker or a bouncer but it was how are you going to play that and that’s what’s so unique,” added Warner.
The left-hander also added that he found Kuldeep Yadav tough to pick. “And with Kuldeep (Yadav), he’s got great change-ups as well. I find that he’s bowling a fraction slower these days, quite different to Rashid Khan who bowls at 100kmph, under lights, I think left-arm chinamans are very difficult to pick,” he added.
However, despite finding the two players difficult to face, Aaron Finch along with Warner raced away to a win by 10 wickets, chasing down 255 runs with almost 12 overs to spare. With it, the Aussies took a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series, with the second game to be played on 17th January, Friday at Rajkot.
After the three games, Team India will travel to New Zealand for a six-week-long tour.
