New Zealand’s in-form batter Daryl Mitchell hailed India’s death-bowling unit and admitted the bowling trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami held them a bit at the end. The Kiwis were looking all set to score more than 300 runs at one stage but they were bundled out for 273 runs at the HPCAS, Dharamshala on Sunday.
In fact, in the last 13 overs, the Blackcaps could only score 68 runs and lost six wickets. Shami was the pick of the bowlers as he returned with impressive figures of 5-54 and also accounted for Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, and centurion Daryl Mitchell at the fag end of the innings
Furthermore, Jasprit Bumrah was able to nail his yorkers in the death overs whereas Mohammed Siraj was also right on the money.
“I think we set the platform there at the 35-over mark. I think it was very similar to what India was at that stage and we knew that India’s got a world-class death-bowling unit. For us, it was trying to cash in at the end,” Mitchell said after registering his fourth ODI ton this year.
“The way India bowled was pretty special. Shami got the rewards, but also Bumrah. The way they and Siraj took wickets – those 30 overs probably held us back a bit. But we also knew that if we could have taken wickets early, as we showed in the middle, and kept applying pressure then we’d have taken the game deep to do a Black Caps and keep fighting to the end, and you never know,” Mitchell remarked.
Meanwhile, after 15.4 overs of the Indian innings, the match was halted due to fog and the players had to go back to the dressing room.
“It was strange, wasn’t it? I have experienced it before in first-class cricket in Karori Park in Wellington when the fog came in. This game continues to provide wonderful things. It was an amazing experience, that’s for sure. This is a beautiful place to play cricket. You can only look up at the mountains and it looks amazing.”
Mitchell added they always try to put their body on the line in order to get the desired results and they are a proud unit.
“It was strange, wasn’t it? I have experienced it before in first-class cricket in Karori Park in Wellington when the fog came in. This game continues to provide wonderful things. It was an amazing experience, that’s for sure. This is a beautiful place to play cricket. You can only look up at the mountains and it looks amazing.”
New Zealand will next take on Australia at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala on Saturday.
