New Zealand head coach Gary Stead on Monday said the Black Caps were well prepared to ‘fire some shots’ at a star-studded Indian team, adding that his side showed ‘courage and bravery’ in the crucial T20 World Cup2021 clash.
A clinical New Zealand defeated India by eight wickets on Sunday to strengthen their chances of advancing to the semifinals. After winning the toss, the Kiwi bowlers stifled the Indian batters to restrict them to 110 for seven in 20 overs and Stead was delighted by the ‘special’ performance.
“I thought the bowling effort was absolutely outstanding – possibly up there I think with the best performance I've seen in my time with the T20 bowling team,” Stead was quoted as saying by ‘Stuff.co.nz’.
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“To restrict a star-studded team like India to 110 was really, really special and then I thought the batting was very clinical," he added. Stead revealed the plan was to keep taking wickets and not let the top Indian batters stay on till the death overs.
“The way we stuck to the plans that we had – we were prepared to be smart around the way we played, but also to fire some shots back at these guys. Because we wanted to make sure that we did take wickets still - that they weren’t going into a death stage with their top quality players instill.”
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Leg-spinner Ish Sodhi (2/17) was adjudged the Player of the Match as he took the prized wickets of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, while star seamer Trent Boult took 3/20 off his four overs. “When you play a big team as star-studded as India are, then you actually have got to make sure you fire some shots at them as well.
“If you can put them under pressure, then hopefully it puts you on the upper hand of the game for periods of time. The way our bowlers bowled in that first innings was absolutely superb.” Such was the spinners Mitchell Santner and Sodhi's stronghold that India went 71 balls between the sixth and the 17th overs without hitting a single boundary.
“They didn’t let India off at all … I think there were 71 balls bowled without a boundary hit from the sixth over, pretty amazing on a ground with a good surface.” Stead said the fact that Boult almost dismissed Rohit of the first ball displayed "the courage and the bravery" New Zealand had intended to play with.
“I think the example of Rohit being bounced first ball, showed to me that it was the courage, the bravery that we wanted to do. And we all know Rohit Sharma can hit the ball out of the park and he’s an amazing hooker of the ball.”
