It is everyone’s wish that the cyclone Kyant won’t interfere with the series deciding ODI in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. The Kiwis have done splendidly to stay in the series after being behind twice. Their spirit has to be admired as much as their tenacity in hanging on in such a tour on which they lost all three Tests well within the distance, but on various kinds of pitches which defied description.
It was unlikely they would be easy prey in the ODI format in which they have been known to excel over the last couple of years. Their performances in the World Cup of 2015 were wonderfully evocative of the kind of fearless cricket teams have played to make a reputation in the 50-overs format. It is a pity then that the early fall of their swashbuckling captain McCullum meant they were not as competitive in the final against the Aussies as they were in getting there in style.
In times when they were wholly unfashionable, the now sadly departed Martin Crowe gave them a reason to think differently and reinvent their one-day game. The sight of Mark Greatbatch stepping down the track fearlessly to fast bowlers and lofting them to various parts of the untenanted outfield at Eden Park and other venues remains fresh in memory. He was so refreshingly different in such blazing attacks on the new ball that the Indian betting market put out rumours that he was on drugs and New Zealand would be disqualified.
Importantly, long before Inzamam-ul-Haq stole the match from them, the Kiwis had revolutionised the limited-overs game. They may have ended up as bridesmaids too often, sadly even at times when they shook up the world with something new by way of attitude and tactics. Crowe and then McCullum proved to be out-of-the-box thinkers who picked up a group of diffident players and made them into extraordinarily competitive limited-overs cricketers. Kane Williamson may not have the dash of his illustrious predecessors, but he brings to the game an earnest studiousness, which is the hallmark of his classy batting too.
No team in India could have lifted themselves to do so much with such few resources. Considering the previous touring side from New Zealand got wiped out here in the last ODI series, it is remarkable that the Kiwis have been so resilient this time around. The first point to be made in picking the difference between the two sides is the fielding. The Kiwis are at least 25 runs to the good in the field compared to their counterparts led by the indefatigable Mahendra Singh Dhoni. And that is a huge margin in 50-overs innings as India found when falling short twice in chases.
The Kiwis may need the luck of the draw to bat first on a pitch that at least lasts an innings before slowing down. The Mohali pitch was the exception, its initial hardness lasting the day to offer a wonderful match in which the blade of Virat Kohli settled the issue after a handsome contribution from Dhoni, who like an old war horse may have responded to the smell of battle. If Vizag can put up a good surface that will last the day, a great decider is in the offing, provided of course that Kyant, said to be an unusual tropical storm without a landfall, keeps off.
