Shardul, Bhuvi not winning Man of the Match, MoS is surprising: Virat Kohli

Pune, Mar 29: Indian captain Virat Kohli said he was surprised that Shardul Thakur was not awarded man of the match for the third and final ODI against England, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar missed out on the Man of the Series honors despite spectacular performances.

 

 

“I’m surprised Shardul wasn’t the man of the match, and Bhuvi wasn’t the man of the series. A lot of credit to them for bowling so well in adverse conditions,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation, wrapping up series victories across formats against the tourists.

 

 

Prior to Kohli's statement in post-match presentation, Sam Curran was handed the Man of the Match award for his heroic 83-ball 95 unbeaten as India won the third ODI by seven runs to clinch the three-match series 2-1.

 

 

In the same match, Shardul took four crucial wickets for 67 runs. He once again went against the set batsmen and picked four wickets. He managed to dismiss Dawid Malan, Jos Buttler, Liam Livingtsone and Adil Rashid.

 

England top-order batsman Jonny Bairstow got the man-of-the-series award for his 219 runs in the three games, including a hundred to top the run-scorers chart. Bhuvneshwar took six wickets in the series at an economy rate of 4.65 and an average of 22.50. In the third ODI, too, he had dismissed in-form Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow to reduce England and later Moeen Ali.