IND vs NZ | 2nd ODI Takeaways - Kyle Jamieson’s mastermind and India’s faulty death planning
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After a shameful 5-0 whitewash received at the hands of India in the T20I series, New Zealand bounced back straight away by winning the ODI series 2-0. Not only has the win added some much needed wind to New Zealand’s sails, it also raised some questions about India’s lack of adaptability.
India’s 1-D field setup in death overs
The course of a potential victory, after having faced defeat in the first ODI, was set for India with New Zealand’s middle-order collapsing. Tom Blundell’s wicket, a pure mis-hit, was all it took for the host’s batting to succumb over the next fifteen overs. So how did New Zealand, who were eight wickets down at 197 in the 42nd over, end up with 273. When Tim Southee was sent back in the 42nd over, Ross Taylor seemed to have mentally jotted down a plan to squeeze out a boundary in every over. All those shots indicated what was coming. Unfortunately for India, they fell for the trap.
Indian bowlers, right before the death overs, starting from Yuzvendra Chahal to Navdeep Saini had it all wrong. The common link between these shots was that they catalysed, for New Zealand, with balls pitching outside off which allowed Taylor to find gaps through third man and over point. Meanwhile, Kyle Jamieson, 6’8’’ giant, was concentrating only on rotating strike. That must have struck Virat Kohli more than anything who then planned a setup for the death overs. But somehow the Indian captain and the pacers - Bumrah, Saini and Shardul - missed out on something crucial.
After Shardul bowled his final over, with seven fielders populating the off side, India were sold on their field setup. Thakur did concede big runs, but they were sixes hit on extremely poor - both full outside off - deliveries. The 45th and 46th overs, delivered by Saini and Bumrah, were kind to India but it all backfired over the next 24 balls as a punishment for the factors that India missed. Firstly, Jamieson had settled in and learnt all of Bumrah’s tricks. Secondly, India did nothing to stop it and, in fact, enhanced his chances to clear the boundary. As soon as Saini came in again, for the penultimate over, he brought in the mid-off to restrict Jamieson, essentially a slogger, who wouldn’t squeeze runs out of the off side. But he did take a single and Taylor muscled the shot to find a gap in the mid-wicket/square leg boundary once again. Despite the indications, India’s field setup remained offside-heavy and that was always bound to backfire as the final result showcased.
Ross Taylor running his partners out is a real problem for New Zealand
"Great New Zealand batsmen [Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor], terrible runners between the wickets. Absolutely shocking together, these two," McCullum lashed out, on air, during the New Zealand-Bangladesh 2019 World Cup encounter. The Black Caps had three close run out calls en route to a narrow two-wicket win that put them at the top of the table. All of those calls had Ross Taylor’s involvement. For a cricketer who has been runout an incredible 32 times in international cricket, out of 429 games, his numbers when getting involved in a run out are even higher. But the question here is, are New Zealand even planning anything on mitigating this?
Evidently not. We don’t even need to go back to the five-match T20I series, Ross Taylor has already claimed four scalps in the two ODI games. Each of his victims were standing on the other side as Taylor weaved his ‘magic’. Even though Taylor scored a match-winning unbeaten 109 in Hamilton, Henry Nicholls and Colin de Grandhomme’s dismissals were undeniably Taylor’s fault. Or precisely the frequency of miscommunications that occur when he’s on strike. Coming to today’s game, Martin Guptill(79) looked in good touch but Taylor, inadvertently, planned something else for the opener as soon he asked for a single off a reverse sweep that went straight into Shardul Thakur’s hands. As Taylor embarked on his run, Guptill followed suit and a direct hit from Thakur at the striker’s end sealed Gutpill’s fate.
If that wasn’t enough, Jimmy Neesham - who was eyeing for a meaningful innings after a rash shot had shortened his time in the last game - was robbed of a chance. Thanks to Taylor! Yet again, Taylor wanted a single - although reasonable this time- as he pushed one to point. He started off the run without communicating with his partner, however, Neesham followed the run. Taylor stopped midway for a second and that had Neesham bamboozled. Taylor once again resumed the run and Neesham followed suit, only to lose the race to Ravindra Jadeja’s perfect direct hit.
Kyle Jamieson - A giant-bodied mastermind in the making
This entire tour, so far, has been about the contrasting elements that the two teams have brought to the table. Another such duality was seen as New Zealand nailed what India did wrong in the first innings. They set the perfect trap for Virat Kohli, placing three slips and a gully right when the Indian captain came into bat. Kohli was, hence, rendered vulnerable right from the start of his innings. Eventually, a consistency of at least two slips was kept to keep Kohli under check. Moreover, his cover drive was blocked and all he was left with was the option to play a bigger part of his innings on the leg side - which he did. But the over that was crucial in this aspect, the one in which Southee was able to get the better of Kohli, was an emulation of Kyle Jamieson sweet ol’ trap set for Prithvi Shaw.
As the young opener looked in terrific form - chasing 274 - hitting Hamish Bennett left right and centre, Jamieson seemed to have planned a perfect execution to keep Shaw under check. He bowled good length deliveries a little away from the off stump and forcing Shaw to misread every time. This is exactly the opposite of what Bennett was on to - aiming the leg stump whilst bowling fuller and fuller. Once the needful was done, Jamieson then aimed to get rid of Shaw once and for all. The perfect plan was seen being executed with a good length delivery from Jamieson, bowled at a fair pace, angling in at Prithvi Shaw. As the batsman tried to drive it, he was bowled through the gate!
Southee applied his junior’s tricks in tackling Kohli. The pacer went wide of the crease and was able to angle it in towards Kohli, after a failed set of outswingers. The Indian skipper opened up to this and tripped over the flick, as the ball sailed to hit the stumps. Southee had him just four balls earlier, but Kohli had narrowly saved himself from an lbw.
