In an intense low scoring encounter, India successfully defended 249/9 as Varun Chakravarthy grabbed a fifer wih figures of 5/42 in 10 overs, receiving able support from other bowlers like Kuldeep Yadav(2/56), Axar Patel(1/32) etc. Earlier in the first innings India were off to a shaky start as they lost 3 wickets in quick succession, crumbling to 30/3 in 6.4 overs. However, the middle order stepped up in the high pressure situation as Shreyas Iyer(79 off 98) and Axar Patel(42 off 61) put up a 98 run stand, with Hardik Pandya’s aggressive innings of 45 off 45 taking them to a fighting total of 249/9.
In the second innings, the Indian bowlers did a fabulous job at choking the Kiwis’ run supply while taking wickets at regular intervals. New Zealand struggled to build partnerships, with Kane Williamson’s gritty 81 off 120 and Mitchell Santner’s aggressive 28 off 31 providing some resistance. Varun Chakravarthy’s crucial wickets, including those of Will Young, the deadly Glenn Phillips, and Santner, earned him the Man of the Match award.
New Zealand’s captain Mitchell Santner made poor bowling decisions which prevented them from restricting India to an even lower score. Despite the tracks being spin friendly, pacers Matt Henry(5/42) and Kyle Jamieson(1/31) bowled brilliantly; grabbing the highly crucial wickets in the star studded Indian lineup, with Matt Henry claiming wickets of Shubman Gill, the invaluable Virat Kohli, the aggressive Hardik Pandya and the potentially dangerous Ravindra Jadeja. All four of them had the capability to play scintillating knocks to help India easily steal the win from the Kiwis. Kyle Jamieson got the wicket of the Indian captain Rohit Sharma, who has a good batting record against NZ. He was also the most economical bowler of NZ and the second most economical in the whole match, with an economy of just 3.88. It is understandable that Santner chose to finish the overs of spinners as it was a highly spin friendly track, however, that was very poor decision making from him, as the spinners ended up leaking way more runs than the pacers, and given how brilliantly the pacers were performing, they should have finished all of their 10 overs. Majority of the deep and star studded batting lineup of India were dismissed by pacers, and even the most dangerous batsman in the match, the set Shreyas Iyer was dismissed by clever bowling tactics from Will O’Rourke.
Outclassing a team requires improvising tactics according to specific conditions and taking risk, which Santner clearly failed to do. Had Will O’Rourke, Kyle Jamieson and the best of them – Matt Henry finished all their overs, they could have prevented some Indian batsmen like Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel from dealing as much damage as they did. Santner’s reluctance to utilize his in-form pacers fully prevented New Zealand from potentially restricting India to a lower total. A bowler taking a fifer and yet not bowling his complete spell is absurd and reprehensible. Same goes for the bowler who gave away the least runs. Santner’s bowling decisions were too superficial and based on pitch report and conditions, he sure did his homework on that before the match but failed to make the best choices according to the current situation.
All this goes on to show Santner’s lack of experience as a captain and New Zealand’s shortcomings which were exposed in this defeat. Poor bowling decisions and being outclassed in their second innings by the Indian bowlers was what lead to their defeat, and they would surely want to learn from this and make a comeback in the knockout stage of the ICC Champions Trophy, as they will be going up against South Africa in the second semi-final on 5th March.
