Florida [USA]: Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar heaped praises on Navdeep Saini, who won the Man of the Match award after for his performance in the first T20I against West Indies on Saturday, and said the 26-year-old has proved himself in various formats of the game.
“He (Saini) bowled really well as everyone has seen. The most important thing is that he proved himself at different stages whether it is domestic cricket, IPL (Indian Premier League) or India A,” Kumar said during the post-match press conference.
The debutant displayed a scintillating performance during Saturday’s match as he took three wickets and conceded just 17 runs in his four-over spell.
Khaleel Ahmed was also in good form during the match. Although he bowled only two overs, he managed to scalp one wicket and gave away just eight runs.
Talking about the induction of fresh talent in the team, Kumar said when he plays with youngsters, he always tries to make them feel comfortable, being a senior player.
“Being a senior player, you always want to perform and if you could not perform, you just want to contribute to the team. This is the first I wanted to do and luckily I did that. But when youngsters play with you like Navdeep Saini did well, Khaleel is there, so, you always want to talk to them and you always want to make them feel comfortable. That is the first thing I want to do and that is what I did with them,” he said.
India had a good day with the ball as they restricted West Indies to 95 for the loss of nine wickets. The Men in Blue were easily able to chase the target and secured a six-wicket victory.
The two teams will meet for their second T20I today.