ICC World Cup 2019 | Trent Boult key to New Zealand's chances, claims Daniel Vettori

India and New Zealand walk into their semi-final clash on Tuesday with contrasting forms, with the former finishing top of the table with seven wins, and the latter scrapping their way to fourth, having lost each of their last three matches. Having lost 4-1 to the Men in Blue in a bilateral series earlier this year, the Kiwis would be hoping for something out of the ordinary to help them score an upset over Virat Kohli's men. Former Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori believes that left-arm pacer Trent Boult will hold the key for the Kiwis, having known the Indian batsmen in and out thanks to his stints in the Indian Premier League. 

"The key will be Trent Boult, he knows these Indian batsmen extremely well at this point. They have played each other many times in international cricket and the IPL and he, along with Kane and the coaching staff, will have plans in place," Vettori wrote in his column for the ICC.

"They have to stay aggressive, bowl to get wickets and let Trent work his magic at the start, in the middle and at the death where his reverse swing, yorkers and now a knuckle ball as well, mark him out as one of the world's premier white-ball bowlers," Vettori added.

With 17 wickets in eight games, Jasprit Bumrah has been the highest wicket-taker and stand-out bowler for India in this World Cup and Vettori praised the pacer, terming his as "unplayable", while insisting New Zealand should take a leaf out of England's book and try to go after the other bowlers, keeping Bumrah out in the process.

"England against India at Edgbaston probably showed New Zealand the way to approach setting a big total. Jasprit Bumrah is basically unplayable at this stage, and against England he was his usual economical self. But despite that, England targeted everyone else. They were aggressive from the off against the spinners, against Hardik Pandya and they even got to Mohammed Shami at the death as well," Vettori said.

With India's middle-order proving vulnerable in their games against Afghanistan and the West Indies, Vettori emphasized on the need for New Zealand to come all-out aggressive and take early wickets to expose the middle-order. "With the ball, they will have to be aggressive right from the outset and bowl to take wickets. If you take early wickets and can get at that Indian middle order then you have a chance," he said. 

"Some people might have perceived the way India start slowly as cautious, but in fact what is actually happening is India are the best in the business at assessing conditions, working out what a good score is and then batting accordingly," he added.

Vettori also warned New Zealand of the threat posed by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, hinting at their ability to take off towards the end, despite starting the innings of slowly. "Yes they have started slowly, but they always make it up at the back end and post big scores. And if you don't get to Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli early you are going to be in trouble," Vettori said about the duo of Rohit and Kohli.

"They know who they want to attack and when they want to attack. That is a real credit to them as a batting unit because plenty of other teams go out there and just go hard regardless of the conditions. India like to assess it and build what they think is an appropriate score from that," he added.

Despite coming into the matchup with three back-to-back losses, Vettori believes that the Kiwis can turn things around quickly, citing South Africa's performance against Australia as an example, and said that things will be put to bed if they manage to start well. 

"A three-match losing streak can evaporate pretty quickly with a great ten overs at the start. Just look at South Africa against Australia this past weekend. The Proteas have been in all sorts of strife this World Cup but the way they started that game gave them huge confidence to go on and get over the line. If New Zealand get off to a great start, with bat or ball, the streak will soon be forgotten," the former skipper concluded.

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