Beneath the colossal Dhauladhar mountain range, the snow on the peaks and ridges set aglow by the setting sun, New Zealand are hustling. They have been hustling most of the afternoon.
This is only part of their hustle, because New Zealand being New Zealand, there is also a manic fight on the strategy front.
Partly this is because Kuldeep is less experienced; Jadeja is now a hardened veteran across formats. Partly this is because wristspinners are an infamously fragile breed.
Shane Warne, the greatest to ever do it, proclaimed repeatedly that a wristspinner's first objective should be to bowl a decent-enough first over their captain would keep them on for a second.
Because Mitchell is a right-hander Kuldeep's stock ball spins in to him, he takes the lead in upsetting Kuldeep's figures and by extension - he hopes - India's bowling plans. He runs at Kuldeep and launches him for huge sixes down the ground. As New Zealand are scrapping for advantage and this is still not enough, Mitchell repeatedly tries the reverse sweep against the turn as well. But he is beaten on two of the four times he tries it against Kuldeep.
That's the game, but when you're searching this desperately, you miss some.
Still, New Zealand are winning this battle. Kuldeep has leaked 35 from his first four overs. When he comes back on for a fifth in the 31st over of the innings, he gives away another 13.
Most captains would swap him out here, right?
"That's it. You're done for a bit."
"Let's get some control back here. Get someone in who can bowl some dots.
"Go into damage control. Who else is around who can roll their arm over?"
Not India. Rohit keeps Kuldeep on for two more overs in this spell. In the next over, Kuldeep should have had Mitchell caught at long off, but Jasprit Bumrah drops it. In over after that, Kuldeep nails Tom Latham in lbw front of leg stump. As wristspinners are a famously mystical breed, it is not clear whether this was a slider or a front-of-the-hand flipper.
Then Kuldeep goes out of the attack.
At some point, you begin to realise that no amount of hustle will work. That this is not a cricket team that responds to the usual cues. Bowlers don't get bashed into oblivion here. India have dropped three catches by this stage, but no falling apart as England did two nights ago is happening.
New Zealand's total always seemed light, but India's chase was too smooth to believe. They would continue to hustle late into the night, black uniforms shooting like pinballs over a mottled green outfield that England had complained about a week earlier, but New Zealand's fielders had no problems diving on.
All this while the crowd roared for India, shouted Bumrah, Siraj, and Shami's names in the last 10 overs, and clamoured as one for Kohli as he approached his century, even cheering a Jadeja forward defence so Kohli would have enough runs left to chase in order to get to triple figures.
If you are an opposition team, even one that has won four in a row as New Zealand has, how do you possibly combat this? You are playing a cricket team every bit as forbidding as the colossal peaks that surround a stadium that is packed with supporters whose clamouring for India's success is voracious and relentless.
After the match, New Zealand's best batter, Mitchell, said he and his team-mates were grateful for the chance to play at a venue such as this, and have experiences such as this, since his is a team that hails from "the bottom of the world".
But from among the New Zealand side, Mitchell will know, most of all, how teams as spectacular as India are now, intimidate opposition on their home soil.
Mitchell's father, John, is a former coach of the All Blacks, whose home crowds turn up to stadiums with far greater capacity than Dharamsala, dressed all in black - a sporting phenomena known as "the blackout". At Eden Park, the All Blacks have not lost in 29 years. They have won a World Cup final there in that stretch.
On Sunday, India and their ocean of blue shirts were almost as scary. The next-best team in the competition so far, had a run at India missing their key allrounder. By the end Kohli was turning down singles in his quest for a hundred. No amount of hustle got New Zealand close.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo's Sri Lanka correspondent. @afidelf
"close" - Google News
October 23, 2023 at 06:45AM
https://ift.tt/98zSIMv
Getting close to India? You've been hustled - ESPNcricinfo
"close" - Google News
https://ift.tt/spAz4Rg
https://ift.tt/MwPWHJa
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Getting close to India? You've been hustled - ESPNcricinfo"
Post a Comment