Press Trust of India
Dharamsala, March 17: High-flying New Zealand will have their tails up and eye another upset when they resume the trans-Tasman rivalry with a strong Australian side in the ICC World Twenty20 here Friday.
New Zealand are on a high having shocked tournament favourites and hosts India in their campaign opener. Their batsmen may have found the going difficult in the first match but the bowlers brought them right into the game.
The spin-trio of Ish Sodhi, Mitchell Santner and Nathan McCullum shared nine wickets among them to comfortably defend a low total of 126. But then the pitch here is more suited to help the pace bowlers and the Kiwis will have to do a rethink on their strategy if they are to beat Australia for the first time in an ICC T20 World event. The Aussies have won all the four outings between the two sides.
Kiwi batsman Ross Taylor, however, stated that they may not persist with the three-spinner theory here. “First of all the boundaries are a lot smaller than what was at Nagpur,” Taylor told reporters here. “So we may do a rethink on that strategy. The conditions here also are more favourable to the fast men.”
But more than anything else, Taylor stated that the mood in the camp is not allow complacency to set in after the game against India. “We are not carried away as we know that one win wouldn’t be enough for us. It has been a good start but we intend to keep the good work going,” Taylor asserted.
However, Australia have always been an indomitable side, especially in big events like the World Cup, and they too will fancy their chances in the Super 10 Group 2 match at the HPCA Stadium here.
Australia have played just seven T20 internationals since the start of 2015 and they come into the game having done a lot tinkering with their line-up. But then given their IPL experience, it would not be surprising to see the Australian batsmen dominating the show. Shane Watson, Aaron Finch, Steven Smith, David Warner and Glenn Maxwell are all aware to Indian conditions and they will definitely make the job of the Kiwi bowlers difficult.
