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regular-article-logo Saturday, 27 April 2024

New Zealand strategy: Stay calm and get Pant

Rishabh's exploits in Australia and then against England at home make the Black Caps wary ahead of the marquee clash in Southampton from June 18-22

Sayak Banerjee Calcutta Published 24.05.21, 01:26 AM
Rishabh Pant.

Rishabh Pant. Getty Images

That New Zealand, India’s opponents in the World Test Championship final, would be worried about the batting might of the Virat Kohli-led team is obvious. But whom do the Black Caps consider their biggest headache? Kohli? Or Rohit Sharma? Or Cheteshwar Pujara? Neither. The answer, according to New Zealand bowling coach Shane Jurgensen, is Rishabh Pant.

Pant’s exploits in Australia and then against England at home make New Zealand wary ahead of the marquee clash in Southampton from June 18-22.

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“Well, Pant is an extremely dangerous player who can change the game on its head. We saw how well he did it against Australia and England.

“He’s extremely positive-minded, but with that comes potentially the opportunity to take his wicket,” Jurgensen, in his second stint as the Black Caps’ bowling coach, told The Telegraph from Southampton.

“Our bowlers need to execute well, stay calm and make it as difficult as possible for Pant to score runs. He’s certainly a free-flowing batsman and a tough one to stop, which we should keep in mind.”

New Zealand have experience in their formidable pace attack. But Jurgensen also backs young Kyle Jamieson, who is Kohli’s teammate at the Royal Challengers Bangalore, to thwart India.

Kohli had almost tricked Jamieson into bowling against him with the Dukes ball at the RCB nets during this year’s IPL, as their teammate Dan Christian revealed some days back. But Jamieson somehow managed to sidestep that.

“Well, Kyle has played with Virat at RCB and no doubt they would have exchanged some comments potentially leading into this final. So interesting times ahead,” Jurgensen said, adding: “I’m sure it’s going to be great to watch Kyle.”

“His Test career too has been outstanding so far. He has got a great opportunity to prepare really well in the lead-up to the final, beginning with the two Tests versus England.”

Paying immense respect to India’s bowling attack, Jurgensen said: “It’s a challenging bowling attack that India have. A lot of options are available for them.

“It’ll be a very, very stiff challenge we could face from (Jasprit) Bumrah to Shardul (Thakur), who’s an all-rounder and has done well in Australia too.

“There’s Mohammed Siraj and even their spinners, who can spin it both ways. It’s a group of formidable, outstanding Test bowlers.”

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