India’s veteran seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar believes the bowlers can still control the game after the visitors registered a thumping six-wicket win against New Zealand at the Hnry Stadium, Wellington, on Tuesday.
India was able to chase down the target of 199 runs off just 13.2 overs and won with 40 balls to spare. Abhishek Sharma came up with the carnage, scoring a bombastic knock of 113 runs off just 38 balls, which included nine fours and 11 hits over the fence.
New Zealand bowlers looked helpless when Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Abhishek Sharma added 118 runs in the first six overs. However, Kumar said it is up to the bowler to nail his line and length but admitted that the margin of error is minuscule.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar said in the post-match press conference, “This is a debatable question. We say that the conditions favour the batters nowadays and all that, but I still believe that a bowler can control the game. The reason is that we feed the ball to the batter. I know that the margin of error is very low, which we generally talk about. But still, a bowler can land the ball wherever he wants to. I strongly believe that a bowler can control the game.
“There are small boundaries. Everything is given to the batters. But still, a bowler is the one who feeds the ball to the batter. Then it’s up to the batter what he wants to play, whether he wants to play according to the ball or not. But still, if you look at the good bowlers, they are still doing well. They are consistent. Even if the game is not equal, the bowler adapts quickly,” the 36-year-old added.
Kumar admitted that the modern-day batters want to hit every ball out of the park.
“Earlier, somewhere there was a thinking that as runs have come in the first couple of balls, let’s go easy in the remaining over. But now it is not like that. Batters are looking to hit every ball. There is one ball. There are two balls. There are six balls. Credit should be given to this generation for playing fearlessly.”
The fourth T20I between India and New Zealand will be played at Eden Park, Auckland, on Friday.
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