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Follow UsSix years ago, when India played New Zealand at the Wankhede for the first (and only time) in an ODI, a 25-year-old Tom Latham announced himself to the world as one of the most exciting and promising young batters in the sport.
Latham entered the India series with an average of 32 and ODI tons only against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Ireland. That night, he played the knock of his life, striking a sublime ton to help New Zealand comfortably chase 281, which was then the highest ever successful chase at the Wankhede.
58 of the 103 runs Latham scored that night came against spin, and he made jaws drop with his sweeping, completely neutralizing the threat of both Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal by deploying all kinds of sweeps. He attempted a staggering 20 sweeps (conventional / reverse / slog / paddle), scoring 35 runs off the said attempts, and left the Indian side scrambling for answers.
In terms of both boldness and clinicality, few ODI knocks have since topped what Latham had managed that night in Mumbai.
As New Zealand brace for their toughest and most important game in two years, they will be hoping that Latham draws inspiration from that memorable night six years ago.
For, it’s thus far been an un-Latham-like World Cup for the now-veteran, whose performances have failed to do justice to his reputation of being ‘one of the best overseas batters in subcontinent conditions’.
Admittedly, it’s been a stop-start World Cup for Latham due to the uncertainty surrounding Kane Williamson’s fitness. It is one thing chipping in as the stand-in captain for a couple of games, but for Latham, it’s been neither here nor there due to the Williamson situation.
In the group stages of this World Cup, he led in the first two matches, gave up captaincy for the third, and led again for the next four matches before stepping aside altogether.
Stability always helps, and to be fair to Latham, he’s not had the luxury of having any.
We can only speculate as to whether it’s affected his batting, but the 31-year-old, so far in this World Cup, has been the most ineffective New Zealand batter in a team full of similar, efficient but not explosive performers.
His overall returns have been poor, and he’s in particular been abysmal against the ‘better sides’ — in the group games against the other three semi-finalists, all of which New Zealand lost, Latham amassed a total of 30 runs in three innings.
Unlike captaincy, though, there have been no stability issues for Latham in terms of his batting, having batted at his usual No.5 position in each of the first five matches, only moving down the order against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in order to accommodate the big-hitters. This very part makes his dull campaign even more damning.
Against both India and Australia, the game was set up for Latham by mammoth stands from Mitchell and Ravindra. His entry points in the said matches were 178/3 (33.3) and 168/3 (24.0), the ideal situation for a batter like him: enough time in the game to settle in and consolidate before shifting gears.
Yet he failed to make a positive impact in both games, falling for five against India before departing for 21 against Australia.
Curiously enough, in both the India and Australia encounters, it was spin that resulted in the undoing of Latham. However, not just in those two games, the left-hander has struggled against spin all tournament.
In this World Cup, Latham has averaged just 20.33 versus spin as opposed to 47.00 vs pace. He’s also been striking at just 77.22 against the tweakers while going at well over run-a-ball (105.62) against the quicks.
It’s a puzzling drop indeed, for prior to this World Cup, the left-hander averaged 67.44 versus spin in ODIs in Asia, amassing 705 runs. Specific to India, his average read 57.75. The Kiwi vice-captain entered this World Cup with the reputation of being a very good player of spin with good reason.
Two of Latham’s three dismissals against spin in this World Cup have come against wide deliveries, but in general, his struggles have been against deliveries aimed at the stumps: the left-hander has managed to strike at just 64 against ball targeting the stumps, playing a host of dots.
This, again, is puzzling, considering he’s a batter blessed with a wonderful sweep. You’d think he’s well-equipped to deal with straighter deliveries due to the range of sweeps he possesses.
But so far in this World Cup, the spinners have stayd on the shorter side of the good length, effectively taking the sweep away.
And it’s worked wonders, with Latham striking at just 54.00 whenever he’s been forced back. 50% of the deliveries he’s ‘charged’ against have also been bowled short; he's managed just a solitary run off those deliveries.
In the clash against India in Dharamshala, six balls of spin was all Latham faced (all against Kuldeep) and Kuldeep stuck to the above-mentioned gameplan, forcing Latham back before eventually trapping the left-hander LBW with a quicker one that slid past his bat.
That day, Jadeja had already bowled out by the time Latham walked out to bat, but if and when the left-hander comes up against the left-arm spinner on Wednesday, it’s almost a given that Jadeja will strangle him with fast, straight deliveries on the shorter side that will be impossible to sweep.
It’ll be a tag team should both the spinners be bowling in tandem, something that will pose all the more difficulty to Latham.
You ideally would want to be walking into these kinds of challenges with runs under your belt, but with no scores over 25 in five matches, Latham is all set to be put through the ultimate trial by fire.
His form suggests that he’s likely to not pass it, but if there’s one thing that’s typified this New Zealand side, it’s individuals stepping up when it matters, notwithstanding previous lulls.
It was at the Wankhede that Latham first earned the respect of the Indian crowd, silencing them when they least expected it. Six years on, at the very same venue, he has the opportunity to become the ultimate villain. The story writes itself.
