IND vs NZ | Southee showed what wearing the silver fern means to him, feels Hamish Bennett
New Zealand quick Hamish Bennett was all praise for his senior teammate Tim Southee who fought through pain who delivered a valiant spell to bowl his side to victory. Bennett feels that the Kiwis did a commendable job defending 273 on a small ground like Eden Park, especially against India.
New Zealand came out all guns blazing in the ODI series after a comprehensive whitewash in the T20 series as they beat India in Auckland to capture the series. New Zealand impressively contained an Indian side that boasts of some of the biggest names in the game while defending a below par total. Bennett was highly impressed with his senior mate Tim Southee who bowled a highly disciplined spell which played an important role in containing the visitors. Bennett revealed that Southee fan through pain to deliver the extraordinary spell as he stood up to his leadership expectations.
“For him to do that, it just shows how much wearing the silver fern on his chest means to him. He’s a good leader in our side and his actions have a lot to do with that and last night we saw that. He led by example, to show that no matter what the situation is, you’ve just got to go out there and get the job done,” Bennett told Sportstar.
“As New Zealanders, that’s what we pride ourselves on, getting the job done, whether we’re fit or not fit. It was a pretty brave effort.”
Bennett believes that the Kiwis did a commendable job restricting India on a tricky ground like Eden Park. The speedster revealed that they always trusted their plan and luckily it worked out.
“Eden Park is a funny ground, it is small boundary wise and scores here haven’t been too high, as people would like to believe. It is not an easy ground to bat in the ODIs. We knew if we get early wickets we could put pressure on their batting order.
“They have a couple key players, and once we got them early, you can put pressure on any batting group doing that. Last night we were fortunate that our plans came off,” said Bennett.