Daryl Mitchell launched a few big blows against India. Photo / Photosport
Daryl Mitchell launched a few big blows against India. Photo / Photosport
The formula worked — Daryl Mitchell and his side managed to impose “true Black Caps style” on a dominant India — even if the result didn’t follow.
For that reason, the centurion remains encouraged by New Zealand’s outlook at the Cricket World Cup, with a fewdecisive games to come after their first defeat.
But India have outplayed every opponent at their home World Cup, adding the Black Caps to a list of scalps including fellow contenders Australia and Pakistan.
The hosts are now the only unbeaten team and almost assured a spot in the semifinals, while the Black Caps are still well placed before pivotal battles with Australia, South Africa and Pakistan.
And Mitchell believes he and his teammates showed enough against the favourites to take belief into those fixtures — and a potential rematch with India in the knockout rounds.
“We’re really proud of the efforts that we put in,” said Mitchell, who posted a new best ODI score of 130. “There are some things we want to do better, but I think it’s going to bode well for the rest of the tournament.
“You obviously always want more runs, but at the same time, I thought the platform that we set and the way we wanted to go about it was in true Black Caps style. We’ll just keep chipping in and we’ll work on a few things, and we’ll be good to go next time.”
That would be the transtasman clash with Australia on Saturday in Dharamsala, the Black Caps carrying an advantage of recent experience at the venue.
The toss proved important against India — skipper Tom Latham also wanted to bowl first — with conditions becoming more favourable for batting in the evening. But as Mitchell knew, New Zealand had still established a solid foundation against India, before losing 6-30 in the last six overs to be dismissed for a subpar 273.
Daryl Mitchell celebrates his century against India. Photo / photosport.nz
“I thought the way India bowled was pretty special,” Mitchell said. “We set the platform there at that 35-over mark — I think it was very similar to what India were at that stage — but we knew that India have a world-class death-bowling unit.”
Indeed, India’s seamers posed problems in the first and final 10-over blocks of the innings, with Mohammed Shami (5-54) earning reward from the pressure applied by Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.
In reply, Trent Boult, Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson were unable to find similar effectiveness, combining to concede an economy rate of 6.6 from 27 overs. But with Virat Kohli (95) and Rohit Sharma (46) pacing the chase — the two top run-scorers at the tournament — New Zealand’s bowlers enjoyed only so much agency in the outcome.
“[Kohli] is a world-class player and he’ll go down as one of the greats of the game for a reason,” Mitchell said. “A very good knock under pressure and, although he didn’t get 100, he got his team across the line.
“But we’ll just keep throwing punches, we’ll keep trying different things and we’ll keep trying to take wickets. I’m just really proud of our bowling unit and how they tried to do that for periods of time in conditions which probably got better with the dew.”
The Black Caps have adapted well to varying conditions at the four venues to have hosted them, and requisite adjustments will be made before Australia come to town on Saturday.
A win then would put one Kiwi foot in the semifinals — they advanced with five victories from nine games in 2019 — and further justify their understandable faith in the formula that at world tournaments generally leads to a spot in the final four.
