Speaking to the media ahead of New Zealand’s training session at the Niranjan Shah Stadium on Tuesday, Nicholls raised questions about the relevance of the 50-over format, especially with the T20 World Cup scheduled for next month and the next ODI World Cup still some 22 months away. The left-hander added that while the number of ODIs has reduced, several players in the New Zealand squad have recently taken part in domestic List-A cricket, keeping them abreast of the format.
“As you say, there isn’t that much one-day cricket between big events, I think that makes these series even more important. A few of us have played cricket at home, so we have a bit of the format under our belt. But it’s a format we enjoy playing, so when you have those series now, they are more important than ever, with a limited number,” he said.
New Zealand fell just short in the series opener, losing by four wickets despite India being under pressure towards the end. Reflecting on the loss, Nicholls felt the visitors did a number of things well but did not maintain the momentum long enough. He emphasized on the importance of deep batting in ODIs.
“From a batting point of view, we’ve done a lot of things quite well, and it’s a matter of us being able to do them for a bit longer. Devon and I (had a) partnership at the top, if either of us is able to bat for a longer period. That’s always the case in one-day cricket, if you’ve got wickets in hand, you’ve got a set of batting through to the last 15 (or) 10 overs, then it certainly extends your chances.” death (over)period.”
When asked about the lessons for the relatively inexperienced New Zealand side from facing Indian senior batsmen Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Nicholls said the challenge was keeping up the pressure. He also pointed out the impact of the one-ball rule introduced after the 34th over, noting how it made batting more difficult towards the end of the New Zealand innings.
“That’s the challenge when you come here and especially as a young group, even as an experienced group when you’re playing against players who have played so much cricket. But also seeing it first-hand in the first game and the way the boys adapted, especially from a bowling perspective, bowling to those boys and finding ways to put them under pressure. If we can do some of those things even as an inexperienced side, then the nature of cricket is that if you can take wickets, you can put pressure on teams.
“We saw at the end of our innings (also) that the ball was a lot darker and also a lot softer, which can make it more difficult to get away. That’s why they introduced the rule in terms of picking one ball to make it a little bit more difficult around the death phase. That’s definitely something to keep in mind if you’re in a batting team (at first) and (if) you’re at the top, then at the end it might not be that easy to score that much. So maybe take it a little bit earlier,” he added to it.
Get every cricket update! Follow us:
#IND #ODI #cricket #major #events #series #important #Henry #Nicholls #CricTracker