Dhoni and Kohli are ‘some of the best chasers in the history of the game’: James Neesham

Oct 24, 2016 at 10:12 AM

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Dhoni and Kohli are ‘some of the best chasers in the history of the game’: James Neesham

New Zealand were reeling at 161 for 5 when  James Neesham came to the crease. The matters deteriorated further when the Indian team reduced the Kiwis to 199 for 8. But Neesham played a brilliant knock of  57 runs off only 47 balls and added 84 runs with Matt Henry for the ninth wicket to help his team post a respectable total of 285 runs. Their chances to take a 2-1 lead in the series increased when the Indian team lost both of its openers with only 41 board. However, a Virat Kohli masterclass (154*) and his partnership of 151 runs with MS Dhoni helped the hosts to chase down the total quite easily. However, Neesham felt that the New Zealand bowlers did not bowl badly in Mohali but admitted that his team should have scored some more runs. Interacting with the media after the match, the Kiwi all-rounder hailed MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli’s efforts with the bat.

Excerpts from his interview:

On his team’s performance in the match:

I think we fought pretty hard with the bat in the first innings to get..in the end what was a slightly below-par total. To be fair, I don’t think we bowled that badly in the second half of the game. The way Virat and MS batted was outstanding. When you are dealing with some of the best chasers in the history of the game, you got have a bit to go your way. I think we just have to keep trying and putting the ball in the right areas and hopefully that in the next game it comes to fruition for us.

On his plans after coming at the crease to bat in a difficult situation:

It was obviously a reasonably iffy situation in the first innings.Henry came out and we basically thought of trying and batting the fifty overs, and try and scrap for as many runs as we can get. We obviously had a boost towards the end there with a few fours and sixes. I thought if we had eked out ten-fifteen runs in the end, that could have made a big difference.

On whether dew played a major role in the outcome of the game:

It dewed up a little bit.I think It was probably not as bad as the second game. These are the sort of conditions you have in the subcontinent and we sort of know how to deal with it. The lads had the towels and stuff out too. So it wasn’t a big issue.

On whether MS Dhoni’s approach of attacking early in the game surprised New Zealand:

I think we know his modus operandi when he first comes in is often to chew up a few balls, get himself in and back himself to make it up in the end. Perhaps he saw the way it was more and more difficult for us to make runs and wanted to get on top of us early. It’s extremely challenging with only four fielders near the boundary and when a batsman comes out and plays shots like that. That’s something we need to talk about and try and combat in the rest of the series.

On the failure of New Zealand’s middle-order batsmen:

I think we’ve seen, even for the Indian batsmen starting has been a challenge on the wickets in this series. You do a lot of work on the first ten balls in the nets, and sometimes it doesn’t come to fruition.I think the conditions are quite challenging to us coming over. I think we have laid a couple of decent foundations but like in the Test series, it is the small periods of play that have cost us the game. I think the middle period today was again the same. The majority of our batting innings, we’ve been good, it’s just that last ten percent that has been an issue. Obviously, guys are not going to reinvent the wheel and change their game halfway through a one-day series. I suppose it is a case of getting off strike, try to keep your innings moving and then get on from there.

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