No-Ball Will Haunt Jasprit Bumrah For A Long Time, Says Sunil Gavaskar

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar reckoned that the no-ball bowled by Jasprit Bumrah during the final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 against Pakistan will haunt him for a long time. Bumrah got the better of Pakistan opener Fakhar Zaman, who edged a ball to Mahendra Singh Dhoni when he was batting on 3. The umpire wanted to check the no-ball and the replays clearly showed that Bumrah had overstepped his mark. Zaman made full use of the opportunity as he went to score his maiden ODI century and was only dismissed after scoring 111 more runs.

"Jasprit bowled quite superbly throughout the tournament, but yes, I think that no ball is the one that's going to be, unfortunately for what he is remembered for a long time and mainly because it was against Pakistan," Gavaskar told NDTV.

But he also saw the bright side of India thrashing Pakistan 7-1 in the Hockey World League Semi-Final 2017 to earn their third straight win in the tournament on Sunday.

With the win, India maintain their top spot in Group B (nine points from three wins) while Pakistan remain sixth with no points. Talking about India's victory in hockey, "Hockey has been our national sport for decades and I am very happy to see that it has got the recognition it deserves. Our boys played absolutely superbly and it is a huge margin. Pretty much the same margin with which India lost in cricket and Pakistan has always been a terrific hockey team. Many congratulations to the team and I hope that the team goes from here strength to strength," Gavaskar said.

India captain Virat Kohli witnessed a rare failure in the final of the Champions Trophy when he was dismissed by Mohammad Amir on 5. "More than Virat Kohli, the rest of the Indian cricket clubbing population must understand that Kohli is human. That he is going to falter once in a while and so the expectation must scale down just a little bit and not that he is going to go out and score a hundred every single time or he will be winning every single match. I think if those expectations are scaled down then, I think, Virat would be able to perform more consistently than he is doing. He is doing brilliantly and also win more trophies," added Gavaskar when asked about Kohli's failure to win a trophy in the shorter format of the game.

An inspired Pakistan hammered a blundering India by 180 runs to lift the ICC Champions Trophy, riding on that scintillating hundred from Zaman and a sensational bowling spell from Mohammad Amir.

"Winning the Champions Trophy would mean the world to Pakistan. They have been deprived of playing at home for a long time. So, you know, home fans have not quite been able to see their team at close quarters. That makes a huge difference for a young budding cricketer to be able to see his heroes in flesh and blood, in cricketing attire is completely different than from seeing them on television. This win will certainly uplift Pakistan cricket.," Gavaskar felt.