The Kiwi wicket-keeper, Tim Seifert seems to be in awe of the Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah, saying that the Indian speedster’s subtle variations are very unpredictable and the hosts need to learn a thing or two about adapting from the visitors. India beat New Zealand by seven wickets in the second T20I in Auckland on Sunday to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. Bumrah returned with figures of 1-21 as Indian skipper Virat Kohli changed his bowling plans from the first game.
Talking about Bumrah, Seifert said, “Even in the first game, Bumrah bowled slower balls that were going wider. He kind of changed things a lot and is tougher to play. The ball was holding a lot more which made it tougher. So sometimes as a batsman, you have to move away from the stumps and see if they bowl straight. I was backing myself to do something different instead of just standing there at the wicket.”
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Seifert went on to score 33 runs in 26 balls but his efforts weren’t enough for the Blackcaps to reach a decent total. Talking about the same, the gloveman said that the New Zealand batsmen need to take a cue from their Indian counterparts on how to adapt to different conditions quickly.
Praising the Indian batsmen, Seifert said, “…Indian batsmen showed how to get under the ball and time it. They showed it a couple of times that and on the slower wickets, you just have to keep it like that. Sometimes it’s going 100 percent but some times you have to take a breath and re-assess. Indian batters did that well.”
Seifert believes New Zealand bowlers did reasonably well in the two T20Is but they have been outplayed by the Indian batsmen.
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He further added, “To be honest, in the first game they were 110-1 and they had wickets in hand. We didn’t bowl too badly in that first game. In the second game, we only got 130 and it is tough to bowl at Eden Park (with that total). 170 was the target in mind but once you get 130 on the board, that was going to be very hard with good balls have gone to the boundary.”
Asked if New Zealand would want to play on India’s strength of chasing, Seifert replied that India is a good chasing team even in ODI cricket, but the wicket was going to get slower and slower which cost them the game. The Black Caps are still confident of bouncing back in the series. The third T20 will be played in Hamilton on Wednesday before back-to-back matches in Wellington and Mt Maunganui.
Seifert said they would like to replicate the 2019 tour of India, where New Zealand came out 2-1 victorious in the three-match series. He said that the team now needs to treat the remaining games like the first two are must-win games.
