The current series against India is “more important,” according to New Zealand batsman Henry Nicholls, who feels that the lack of one-day internationals in between major international competitions has increased the significance of bilateral ODI series.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday before New Zealand’s training session at the Niranjan Shah Stadium, Nicholls answered enquiries about the 50-over format’s applicability, especially given that the next ODI World Cup is still some 22 months away and the T20 World Cup is set for next month. The left-hander continued by saying that even though there are fewer ODIs, a number of New Zealand players have lately played in local List-A cricket, which has helped them stay familiar with the format.
Therefore, perhaps start a little earlier,” Nicholls said.
“I believe that these series are greater more significant because, as you say, there is less one-day cricket in between huge events. We have some experience with the format because some of us have been playing List-A cricket back home. But since we like playing that format, those series are more significant than ever right now, even though there aren’t many of them,” he remarked.
Despite applying pressure on India in the latter stages of the series, New Zealand lost by four wickets. After considering the defeat, Nicholls said the visitors accomplished a number of things correctly but were unable to maintain their momentum for very long. In ODIs, Nicholls emphasised the need of batting deep.
“We accomplished a lot of things fairly effectively from a batting perspective; we just need to be able to execute them for a little while longer. If one of us can bat for a long time, Devon and I (had) a partnership at the top. The ability to hold onto wickets and have a set batter in the final 15 or 10 overs is a constant in one-day cricket, and it undoubtedly lengthens your death (overs) time.
In response to a question on what New Zealand’s relatively inexperienced team could learn from playing senior Indian batsmen Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Nicholls stated that maintaining pressure was the difficult part. Additionally, he highlighted how the one-ball rule, which was implemented after the 34th over, made batting more challenging as New Zealand’s innings came to a close.
“Playing against players who have played that much cricket is the difficulty when you come over here, and it’s true for both young and experienced teams. Additionally, it was interesting to watch how the players adjusted in the first game, especially from a bowling perspective, by bowling at those players and trying to put pressure on them. The nature of cricket is that if you can take wickets, you can put teams under pressure. If we can accomplish some of those things even as a novice squad, then that’s what it is.
“At the end of our innings, we saw that the ball was much softer and darker, which can make it more difficult to escape. To make things a little more difficult around the death stage, they introduced the rule requiring one ball to be chosen. That’s definitely something to consider if you’re on top of the batting squad (first) and it might not be as simple to score as many runs in the end.
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