New Zealand bowling coach Jacob Oram admitted that stopping Abhishek Sharma and India’s aggressive top order has become one of the biggest challenges for New Zealand in the ongoing T20I series.
Speaking ahead of the 4th match during the pre-match press conference, Oram highlighted the chaos created by the Indian batting unit. “It’s been a little bit of chaos out in the middle with the ball flying everywhere, to remain calm and controlled and remember those plans and then obviously execute them. But I say again, it’s all part of the learning.”
Oram also praised India’s star T20I batter Abhishek Sharma, who has been the standout performer so far. “Abhishek at the moment … outstanding form, hitting it clean, let’s just hope game two is reproduced in game four and we get him out early. We’re not glazing over these results,” he said.
He also pointed out that Abhishek is not the only threat in the Indian line-up. “But the thing is he’s (Abhishek) not the only one, Suryakumar has played well, Ishan Kishan in the second game. We know there are challenges up and down the (Indian batting) line-up,” Oram highlighted.
The former New Zealand all-rounder compared the current style of Indian batting with Sri Lankan great Sanath Jayasuriya. He said, “Jayasurya from Sri Lanka who kind of did the same thing at that time and I think that’s just a natural progression of the game. I think what you see is the tendency for bowlers to have to catch up and that’s our challenge now as the bowling coach and there are plenty of discussions happening.”
Oram is positive that they can improve with time. “I keep using the word challenge… to appreciate how hard it is here, but still find little things along the way that we can improve.”
India are leading the five-match series 3-0, and the fourth T20I will be played on January 28 at Visakhapatnam.
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