MOHALI // For five and a half overs of Pakistan's chase it seemed as if New Zealand had not received the memo. Perhaps they had lost the plan, or perhaps, they just did not have one for Sharjeel Khan.
They bowled lines and lengths to Sharjeel that fed into his strengths. Sharjeel is the kind of batsman who has one good innings in, say, six or seven and this looked as if it might be one. It was, just not enough of one.
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He pulled, hoicked and flipped seven fours and a six in a near semi-circle between long on and a very fine leg. Exactly a month ago, Nathan McCullum had tied him up by targeting his pads before dismissing him in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) final but on Tuesday, New Zealand did not hit that area quite right.
His real limitations are around off stump, where, though his strokeplay can be smooth, he puts himself under pressure by not being able to find gaps as consistently.
Eventually, Adam Milne went across him, full and wide and got him playing where he feels less comfortable. Duly he sliced high to point and New Zealand were back in the game.
Why was this little period even significant? Because it was the first time in this World Twenty20 that New Zealand have, even for a brief moment, looked as if they were not sure of what they were doing.
And their success in this tournament, in which they are now in the semi-finals, has come because they have known exactly what they should be doing in every situation they have come across.
That is why they have been the outstanding side here. They knew enough, for instance, in Nagpur to not go by the curator’s advice that the surface was “hard and fast” with “lots of bounce”.
They dropped Tim Southee and Trent Boult, the opening pair that has brought them so much success over the last year, and played three spinners. You know what happened next to India.
In Dharamsala they took a late decision to drop McCullum, who had started New Zealand’s defence so well in the India win, and brought in Mitchell McClenaghan. Who ended up taking three crucial wickets and two in a vital 19th over? That’s right.
In other ways too they have been smart. They have sent Colin Munroe and Corey Anderson higher up the order than is usual because, coach Mike Hesson explained on Monday, they felt they needed a bit more power at the top.
That allows men like Ross Taylor and Luke Ronchi to come in later overs and work the team towards a total they feel is defendable.
It took them a while to get it right against Pakistan in the field and it was not quite flawless – their work in the field, for one, was a little more careless than usual.
Martin Guptill, whose 48-ball 80 set up the innings, said later that New Zealand got “lucky” with the surface they played on, a far truer wicket than the two they had previously played on.
“The nets played pretty similar to the way the wicket played out there in the middle,” he said. “We were lucky enough to get decent tracks in the nets and to be able play a few shots and then to come out tonight and carry that on from the nets. So we got lucky.”
That, we will put down to the self-effacing vibe of this New Zealand. There was nothing lucky about it, just as there is nothing lucky about their performances at this tournament.
Their willingness to adapt to whatever surface they come across is matched by a depth and variety in their squad to be able to do it; they have, it seems, options with bat and ball for any situation. And they are now serious contenders.
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