Men’s ODI WC: Shami, Siraj, Bumrah held us back a little bit, admits NZ’s Daryl Mitchell

DHARAMSHALA: New Zealand’s top-order batter Daryl Mitchell lauded India’s fightback in the last ten overs resulting in their four-wicket defeat to the hosts’ in the Men’s ODI World Cup clash at the HPCA Stadium on Sunday.

Mohammed Shami spearheaded the Indian fightback by rattling the middle and lower-order batters to pick 5-54, including Mitchell’s scalp and limit the Blackcaps to 273 all out in exactly 50 overs, which India chased down with two overs to spare to maintain their unbeaten run in the competition.

“We set the platform there at that sort of 35 over mark, it was very similar to what India were at that stage and obviously we knew that India's got a world-class death-bowling unit and for us it was trying to cash in at the end and I thought the way India bowled was pretty special obviously.”

“Shami got the rewards but also Bumrah, the way they and Siraj, the way they took wickets and that 40 overs sort of probably held us back a little bit. But we also knew that if we could have taken wickets early and as we showed through the middle, keep trying to apply pressure then we'll take the game deep and we'll do a Black Caps still and keep fighting to the end and you never know,” said Mitchell in post-match press conference.

Mitchell hit 130 off 127 balls in a stunning show of batting against pacers and spinners alike while sharing a critical 159-run stand with Rachin Ravindra, who made 75.

Due to the duo’s efforts, New Zealand cruising at 178/2 in 34 overs, before throwing away the rebuilding act by crumbling to 273 all out. “It was awesome back with Rach, he's obviously in a rich form at the moment and we were just having some fun out there and taking in what it is to be part of an amazing World Cup you know, to play at grounds like this and at crowds like this, it's pretty special for us Kiwis who live on the bottom of the earth.”

“I guess I was trying to find ways to put pressure back on their bowlers and keep building partnerships and try and set a foundation so that we can try and go harder towards the end. All in all we're really proud of the efforts that we put. There are some things we want to do better, but I think it's going to bode well for the rest of the tournament,” he added.

Mitchell hit nine fours and five sixes during his knock of 130, also his maiden ODI World Cup century. A standout feature of his knock was him proactively using his feet and long levers to smash boundaries mainly down the ground and on leg-side against the spinners. He took 43 runs off 28 balls off Kuldeep Yadav in the middle-overs, leaving India in some trouble.

“I've known Kuldeep for a while now, he's a great man and we get on well off the field and for me it's just keep trying to find ways to put pressure on their bowlers, it's not just him it's the same with every bowler that we come up against.”

“It's trying to find ways to put pressure on them and also absorb when they're bowling really well and keep trying to, I guess, tick over and build that platform that we speak about. So, look, he's done really well over the last few years for India and it's awesome to see him have some success,” he concluded.