‘We can’t shift from T20 mode straightaway to fifty overs’

Wellington: New Zealand bounced back from the defeat in the T20I series with a thumping win over India in the first ODI on Friday (November 25). Put into bat, India mustered over 300 thanks to a couple of fifties. In reply, New Zealand had Tom Latham scoring a blistering ton which took the game away from the visitors. Shreyas Iyer, who played a vital knock in India’s innings, shed some light as to what went wrong for India.
The Mumbai dasher was happy with the total India put up despite the hosts polishing it off with a few overs to spare. “Reaching 307 from the position that we were in was a commendable effort,” he said in the presser. “Few things didn’t go our way. It is a learning curve for us and hopefully we can go back and introspect and come back with new ideas,” he added.
There have been silent murmurs about India’s conservative approach upfront in white ball cricket. So when quizzed does he feel that one day cricket is an extension of T20s, he said, “We can’t play in the T20 mode straightaway in fifty overs because there is more time. One can plan his batting looking at the wicket and deciding in his mind what a par score would be. One needs to adapt. Fifty overs can change from time to time. Sometimes there can be sunset, there can be dew on other times and you don’t know how the wicket will play.”
The middle-order batter gave credit to Kane Williamson and Tom Latham and heaped praises on the way they tackled the chase. “They played fantastic knocks. They knew which bowlers to target. The way Latham took off in that over, I think that completely shifted the momentum towards them. He wanted to come in and build that partnership. –Agencies