Ross Taylor warns New Zealand against over-confidence
New Zealand’s Ross Taylor has warned his teammates against over-confidence following their victory against India on Tuesday. The 32-year-old expects spin to a play major role in their next game against Australia at Dharamsala as well but is unsure whether the spin trio of Ish Sodhi, Mitchell Santner and Nathan McCullum will be persisted with, despite their splendid collective effort at Nagpur.
The New Zealand spinners picked up nine wickets between themselves as pre-tournament favourites India succumbed to a shock 47-run loss in the 2016 World T20 opener. The inclusion of three spinners meant New Zealand’s most experienced bowlers in Trent Boult and Tim Southee were left out of the playing eleven, and Taylor was all praise for the team’s hierarchy for taking the bold call.
"It was a big call but we knew what the wicket was going to play like, with the games beforehand and just looking at the wicket we knew it was going to take some turn. It did probably turn a little more than we were expecting,” Taylor said of the Nagpur pitch in a press conference at the HPCA Stadium on Thursday, as reported by Cricbuzz.
“And you know a lot of credit has to go to Kane (Williamson) and Hess (Mike Hesson) first of all for coming up with the plan, then for the forthright to go with it. You have got two very experienced players, who have had a lot of success in these conditions, it takes a lot of guts to do that," he added.
Though thrilled by the victory against India, Taylor was quick to remind his teammates about the perils of being over-confident, especially in a tournament as unpredictable as the World T20.
"It was definitely a lot of happy teammates after the game," he pointed out. "But we don't want to get too carried away. It's just one game in what is a short and condensed tournament. Lot of games to be played.
The big positives were the way our spinners played. It was the first time we have got in with that balance. (Mitchell) Santner and Ish (Sodhi) bowled outstandingly well. We are accustomed to Nathan and his T20 record is outstanding but those guys are very inexperienced, to come out and play in front of such a big crowd in such a big game, they will take a lot of confidence."
Taylor expects spin to be a decisive factor at Dharamsala
Though Taylor expects spin to play a major role at Dharamsala as well, he hinted that New Zealand might go in with different personnel considering the lingering doubts over rain during the match.
"Both teams in the past have their moments against spin. I think spin will have a big role to play tomorrow and whatever happened 12 months ago is gone and it is a new team that is looking forward to playing in bigger matches,” Taylor said, referring to New Zealand’s loss to Australia in the final of the 2015 World Cup.
"Obviously, we have to wait and see what the conditions are like. The boundaries are lot smaller here. In Nagpur the boundaries were so big, so you couldn't attack the spinners as much as you would have liked because if you didn't hit the ball 100%, you were going to get caught at the boundary. Rotating the strike played a big part there but here mishits can still go for six. We just have to wait and see.
"Every game is totally different and we need to access the conditions here and of course with rain around it could be a shortened game and we need to change the balance. Maybe we will not go in with three spinners and obviously different power options as well," he said.
Talking about New Zealand’s long-standing rivalry over its Trans-Tasmanian rivals, which is not limited to just cricket, Taylor said that a victory over Australia was always one to savour.
"The rivalry still matters whatever sport it is. Be it cricket, rugby, hockey it's always special for a New Zealander to win over there. Anytime you play Australia they are a big brother I guess. They always had a lot of success against us in few games," he said. "These are very foreign conditions to what we've played in Eden Park or MCG and you know it takes spin,” Taylor said.