New Zealand skipper, Tim Southee reckons that the hectic schedule has impacted the adaptability of the Kiwis while performing in the tricky Indian conditions as the hosts took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20 series. New Zealand arrived in India less than 24 hours after losing the World Cup final to Australia. Playing a three-match series three days after the T20 World Cup final, the Kiwis suffered back-to-back defeats, going down to India by seven wickets in the second T20I on Friday.
During the post-match press conference, Tim Southee said, “It’s been a hectic schedule on the back of the T20 World Cup, I just don’t think we adapted to the surface as well as we could have.”
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India has been lucky as their new T20 skipper Rohit Sharma won both tosses and successfully chased down the totals. On Friday, the Kiwis started off in an explosive fashion going over 10 runs per over in the powerplay but they failed to capitalize in the middle overs and were restricted to a modest 153/6.
Talking about the impact of dew, Tim Southee said, “There was heavy dew throughout the whole night and it affected both sides. It’s tough, you can obviously train with a wet ball but we’re not able to adapt as we would have liked. For me, I was just trying to replicate what they did, which looked hard during our innings. It was tough for our spinners to get a good grip on the ball. But yeah, like I said they were just too good tonight.”
The result meant that the final T20I in Kolkata would be a dead rubber but Southee hopes to end the series on a high before the two Tests.
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Talking about the same, Tim Southee said, “The goal is to get one last push before we get home after the next game. That’s another opportunity to represent your country. So I don’t think you need any extra motivation to get yourself up. It’s a great place to play cricket coming here tonight in front of a full house. It’s just an amazing place to play it so I’m sure the guys will be able to pick it up and finish the tour on a high.”
