India is set to play New Zealand in the most crucial game of the ongoing T20 World Cup today evening. However, the drama has already unfolded as Kiwi pacer Trent Boult hopes he can do what Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah did to India’s top order in the India-Pakistan match played on October 24.
“I thought the way Shaheen bowled the other night, for a left-armer watching on, I thought it was amazing. But there are quality batters in that India line-up,” a report by Sportstar quoted Boult saying.
“Early wickets are definitely the focus for us as a bowling group. But we just need to be nice, clear and accurate on where we are trying to put the ball. Hopefully, from my point of view, it swings around a little bit, and I can mirror what Shaheen did the other night.”
To it, the India captain and batting maestro Virat Kohli responded by saying that he and his team too will be ready to counter all challenges.
“We obviously will come up against some quality bowlers around the world in this competition, and hence, the intensity and the level at which this competition operated is very different.
“So, we know that we have played against these individuals for a long period of time; it’s not something out of the ordinary that’s gonna come our way and it all depends on how we take the field mentally and how we counter that,” Virat Kohli said on Saturday.
“If Trent says he wants to replicate what Shaheen did against us, he is motivated to do so and we have to be motivated to counter that and put pressure on him and the other bowlers as well. That’s how basically the game goes, anyway,” he added.
Virat Kohli highlighted that the Indian batters have played plenty of the Kiwi bowling attack in international cricket and in the IPL.
“We have played against all these bowlers for a long period of time and we understand exactly what we need to do and all that matters now is when we step onto the field, what kind of mental frame we are in – if we are absolutely confident of hitting that ball clearly and not thinking about any other scenario – and I think that’s key to batting in high-pressure situations and that’s something that we are really looking forward to executing as a team,” the Indian skipper concluded.