Despite successive defeats for India while chasing in the ongoing ODI series, New Zealand paceman Tim Southee believes pursuing a total is a good option here.
“The grounds are small and chasing can pay off,” he said on Friday.
Efficient bowling India, though, has been denied by some efficient bowling and outstanding fielding.
The New Zealander said, “There generally is some swing here. I am looking forward to bowling.”
Southee added, “It’s been a good start to this series for us. We have played a couple of good days of cricket.”
The paceman was wary of an Indian fight-back. “They will be motivated after two losses. They are too good a side to be rolled over.
“We have fielded well but they are a young fielding side too.”
Southee was pleased with the pace pack’s performance so far, but said: “Kohli is in good touch. We have to get him out as soon as possible.”
The swing bowler, who reached 100 ODI wickets in Hamilton, complimented fast bowler Hamish Bennett on returning to the side.
“He has done well to come back from injuries. He has had a good domestic season.” The Kiwi said New Zealand had been backed by captain Brendon McCullum and coach Mike Hesson to dish out attacking cricket.
Attacking cricket Southee said, “We have free-flowing stroke-makers all the way down and when they come good we have the runs to bowl the way we have in this series.”
Southee wanted more vocal crowd support for New Zealand.
“The New Zealand fans have been equal in number but the Indian supporters have made more noise!”
Working hard India paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar revealed he had worked hard to become a more rounded bowler in the ODIs.
Earlier, India would nearly bowl him out in his first spell. Now, Bhuvneshwar operates at the death and is doing a decent job. “I realised I needed to bowl good yorkers in this form of cricket. Before the home series against the West Indies I worked hard on bowling this,” Bhuvneshwar said.
He stated, “New Zealand has a good batting line-up. Apart from Anderson, it has Ryder, Guptill, Taylor, Willamson and McCullum.” Asked about the Indian tactics in the middle overs, Bhuvneshwar replied the idea was to check the flow of runs.
Despite being 2-0 down, Bhuvneshwar said India was not under any pressure. “We are confident and focused on what we want to do.”
