IND vs NZ | India might field unchanged eleven in Hamilton, hints Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli has heaped praise on his team for their clinical showing in Auckland on Sunday and hinted that the perfect performance in the second T20I might mean an unchanged team in the third T20 in Hamilton. Kohli has also revealed that he expects the Kiwis to bounce back hard in the next game.
After erring on their lines and lengths in the first T20I on Friday, the Indian bowlers produced an almost picture-perfect display in the second game in Auckland today, after losing the toss, restricting the hosts to a modest score of 132 on a batting-friendly wicket. From Jasprit Bumrah to Ravindra Jadeja to Shivam Dube to Mohammad Shami, every single bowler stuck to their plans and strangled the batsmen, after which the duo of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer took care of the rest to ensure that team India had an easy seven-wicket victory.
An ecstatic skipper Virat Kohli, speaking on the back of the win, heaped praise on his men, especially the bowlers, and revealed in on what he felt was a ‘complete performance’. Kohli further indicated that owing to almost each and every individual excelling on the day, the team might field an unchanged XI in the third T20I in Hamilton.
“I think we backed it up with another good performance today especially with the ball. The bowlers stood up and took control. I think the lines and lengths we bowled today, sticking to one side of the wicket and being sure of what we wanted to bowl. It was a very good feature for us as team,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation, reported Cricbuzz.
“I think Jadeja was outstanding, once again Chahal was a banker. Bumrah was amazing as well. I think we backed it up in the field. The surface gripped a bit. When you have a complete performance like that, it helps. This same side has won us two games,” the Indian skipper added.
After getting off to a brisk start - scoring 32 off just 4 overs - the Kiwi batsmen faltered big time, amassing just 100 runs off their next 16 overs. Kohli stated that he felt that the New Zealanders were at least 30 runs short of a par score and revealed that he, as a captain, learnt from the bad experience in the first T20I in the same ground where the team conceded 203 runs.
“I think the pitch was good enough for a score of 160 in the first innings. We understood the angles of the field better, how the pitch was playing, how the New Zealand batsmen were approaching. We had to make a few changes and I had to think on my feet as a captain,” the Indian skipper said.
But despite the routing today in Auckland, the 31-year-old expects the Kiwis to bounce back hard in the third T20I of the series in Hamilton on Wednesday.
“I know New Zealand are going to bounce back hard. We need to bring our A game again and we are up for the challenge. I think the dimensions of Hamilton are better than Auckland, it's an even field for the bowlers.”
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