New Zealand – Odds against everyone’s second favourite team

New Zealand won a lot of hearts in the 2015 ODI World Cup. They had their best run ever but didn’t match up to Australia in the Final, although beating a tough South African team in the semifinal in itself gave them a lot of glory.

They play with a lot of sportsman spirit but without conceding an inch to the opponents, a brand of cricket popular across the world now, making them everyone’s second favourite team, a tag the West Indians held for a long time.

A year on, New Zealand, known for their entertaining brand of cricket might not really repeat their 2015 effort, as they participate in the ICC T20 World Cup 2016 in India. New Zealand isn’t the tournament favourite, far from it this time around and for some really valid reasons. New Zealand have an overall W/L record of 42/39 in 88 matches with 5 tied and 2 ending without result.

However, the fast paced game has come a long way and is massively affected by the ground where the match is played.As it stands, the sub-continent isn’t really New Zealand’s strength. New Zealand have won 8 and lost 8 playing in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, UAE and Bangladesh.

New Zealand’s performance in India

New Zealand won the only T20 they ever played in India, but that was a while ago. They haven’t had the best of preparations for this World Cup considering, they busied themselves playing out a Test series against Australia, demonstrating where their focus and priorities lay.

New Zealand doesn’t really have the time to change from the swinging and pacy conditions down under to the slow batting paradises that they’ll encounter in India. It is too big a difference to adapt easily to. They did have a good start beating Sri Lanka by a massive 74 runs in the warm-up game on 10 March at the Wankhede Stadium, with their middle order showing good form.

However, the batting performance came against some ordinary bowling bereft of Malinga’s genius. New Zealand though would also feel a little edgier after their loss to England, not exactly the best team playing in the sub-continent. England chased down 170 with relative ease in the second warm-up leaving the ODI World Cup runners-up with a few things to ponder over.

Limited IPL Experience

The timing of Brendon McCullum’s retirement is quite strange considering he was New Zealand’s most famous face in the IPL. McCullum garnered a lot of experience having scored IPL’s first century and having spent a few seasons playing for Chennai Super Kings under someone as legendary as MS Dhoni.

New Zealand would have greatly benefited from McCullum’s experience in almost all the venues across India and his knowledge of conditions, across the length and breadth of the country. The Kiwis aren’t really used to playing in hot conditions, something that is the characteristic feature of IPL games. Led by Kane Williamson, New Zealand has a few players with experience in the IPL but not enough compared to that of other teams like West Indies, South Africa and Australia.

The New Zealand team at a practice session

Williamson played a few games for Sunrisers Hyderabad and so did Trent Boult, who impressed everyone with his wicket-taking capabilities and outperformed someone of the calibre of Dale Steyn. Corey Anderson had a longer run for champions, Mumbai Indians playing along with his countryman Mitchell McClenaghan.

Tim Southee got a few games for Chennai Super Kings and Ross Taylor got a few for Rajasthan Royals and Pune Warriors. But that is where the experience ends. New Zealand could have done better with someone like McCullum who has played a big chunk of the IPL matches across all seasons.

For a team facing alien conditions in the sub-continent, that would have surely helped. New Zealand’s best T20 batsman is Martin Guptill and he has not played in the IPL, a caveat the Kiwis would be wary of.

New Zealand’s form in the last couple of years

New Zealand has a W/L record of 8-5 since the last T20 World Cup in Bangladesh. During that tournament, New Zealand won two and lost two at Chittagong before crashing out. Since then, the closest they have to come to sub-continental conditions is in Dubai where they won 1 and lost 1 against Pakistan.

New Zealand’s form in 2016 has been impressive as they won 4 and lost just 1 against Pakistan at home. Their last three wins have been massive, including one by 10 wickets and one by 95 runs. However, all these matches have been played in familiar home conditions, completely in contrast to what they will encounter in India.

New Zealand has a batting average of close to 26 since the last T20 World Cup which puts them in third place behind India and South Africa. Their bowling economy is 7.72 which compared to all Test playing nations points out to a lack of T20 experience in their bowling department. In prime batting-friendly conditions, there is little hope that economy is going to improve.

Lack of quality spinners

New Zealand has a leg-break bowler in Ish Sodhi and a left-arm orthodox spinner in Mitchell Santner, both playing 5 matches in their T20 career. Nathan McCullum, veteran of 61 T20s with his off-breaks is the third spinner. Santner and McCullum have impressive economy rates but haven’t played a lot in the sub-continent. New Zealand do not really have mystery spinners, spinners who are capable of running through a side.

All the three above are steady bowlers who are not primarily wicket-taking by nature. That may put too much pressure on Boult to pick wickets upfront on pitches that are not known for assisting seam or swing. It also means a lot of New Zealand batsmen aren’t really exposed to quality spin bowling having not played in the IPL much.

Conclusion

New Zealand has a tough act to follow and a lot really depends on three of their players – Williamson, Anderson and Guptill. The form of these three along with contributions from Taylor could determine if they will make it to the semifinal from the group of death which includes India, Australia, Pakistan and Bangladesh.