ICC World Cup 2019 | Taking early wickets is the key against India, says Lockie Ferguson

Having played just 27 ODIs before the World Cup began, Lockie Ferguson had been showing immense potential and already had 46 wickets to his name. Under the guidance of probably the best fast bowler in the world Trent Boult, there were a lot of expectations from him and he has done his best to live up to them. 

The right-arm fast bowler has eight wickets already to his name in the three matches played so far, including a steamy four-wicket haul against Afghanistan. However, he faces the sternest test of the tournament so far when he will take on the in-form Indian batting lineup on Thursday having the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, two of the best batsmen in the format. However, Ferguson believes he has a plan to keep them in check. 

“Taking early wickets is the key against India. But if not then you have to bowl a lot of dot balls and create pressure. They are world class players and we are not going to blow them up but we can create enough pressure and create those half chances and you can build from there. They are one of the top teams in the competition and we're looking forward to playing them in England which we haven't done for a while,” Ferguson told TOI.

The match will be played at the Trent Bridge, a typically high scoring venue. However, the pacer has a different perspective regarding the situation.

"It's a high-scoring ground which puts the pressure on batsman to get those runs. The only played once before at Trent Bridge so I will have to adjust to the wicked West Indies showed there is extra bounce here and they caused problems for the Aussies,” stated Ferguson. 

The Black Caps bowling has been pretty clinical so far with the opposition team having failed to cross the score of 250 as Sri Lanka and Afghanistan have failed to even cross the score of 200. Ferguson was all praise for his compatriots’ performance. 

"Boys taking up wickets upfront makes my job easier I'm always trying to improve my game Fortunately, we’ve such an experienced group of bowlers around me and we talk a lot amongst ourselves and get along really well which makes the learning process a lot easier,” he concluded.