Bhuvneshwar Kumar is a diamond India need to treasure: Donald

It has been one disappointing ride for the Pune Warriors India in this edition of the IPL. With just two games left to play, PWI coach Alan Donald spoke about how the team has been a well knit unit throughout the ups and downs in the tournament and looked forward to putting up two spirited performances in the remaining games.

“Even before the start of the tournament we discussed that this was a massive opportunity for the squad to prove their worth to a franchise that has been struggling over the last couple of years,” Donald said.

“One thing I cannot fault is that the team has stayed very tight throughout the competition though we have not produced the results. Hopefully in the next two games, players can produce results for Pune Warriors India and then for themselves. We need two great performances right now and hopefully they will step up at this beautiful stadium of Ranchi.”

Donald also said that as a coach he has tried his level best to motivate a group of players who have suffered more loses than wins in the tournament. 

“As a leader of the group, I have tried extremely hard to motivate a group of players, but the toughest thing to get up from a dug out has been when you lose, which is hard to take. I have never been in such a position throughout my career and I can only try as hard as I can to motivate the team. I am still trying to find answers as to where we went wrong and I have never experienced a ride like this in the two IPL seasons we have had. It has been four games now and it has been a case of playing for pride. We are down to two, and it is up to us now to step up on Wednesday against KKR. We deserve to prove to the owners that this team can play.”

Rightly so, if you look at the team at disposal and see the quality of players in that line up, one cannot help but imagine how the team has had such a dismal run this season. Donald believed the marquee players have not performed to their prime which was so vital to a team’s progress. A special word of mention for Yuvraj Singh too was reserved by the coach.

“Yuvraj Singh has been fantastic,” Donald said. “He has kept up his attitude throughout this competition and he is a great example for everybody in the change room. There might be an argument that had Yuvraj scored, we would have won more games. But the bottom line is he has not scored and you cannot deal with it. A lot of our marquee players have not stepped up to the mark. You win the IPL when your big players step up and win you games. Yuvi has been an absolute legend in this IPL for us so far and one can only learn from that.”

And when Donald was asked about his assessment of young Bhuvneshwar Kumar ahead of the all important ICC Champions Trophy, Donald had nothing but heaps of praise for the medium pacer.

“I was very impressed with Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s skill levels since last year. He is in line for a long career in all formats of the game. He has had a long season and he is feeling a bit tired, but he is also getting ready for the ICC Champions Trophy. I think the biggest asset for Bhuvneshwar is that he wants to book his place in that Indian team and wants to become a legend of Indian cricket. That attitude takes you a long way. I know he will exploit the conditions for India if there is anything for him on the wickets in England. He is going to be a handful in that ICC Champions Trophy. India has got an absolute ‘little diamond’ that they have got to work with,” exclaimed Donald.

source: iplt20.com