NEWS
Follow UsKyle Jamieson emerged as New Zealand's best bowler on day two of the World Test Championship final in Southampton. The tall paceman conceded only 14 runs in as many overs and also broke the 62-run opening partnership between Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. The two batters constantly tried to charge down the track against Jamieson and the 26-year-old feels it was only because the two weren't comfortable with the line and length he was bowling.
"It's certainly an interesting one. But yeah, I guess everyone will sort of take that differently. My take on it was that if they were walking, they weren't comfortable with where I was bowling when they were on the crease. I tried to take that as a bit of a positive that we were winning the battle in a way that the more if they felt like they had to move around to try to throw us off, if we could just sort of hang in that area that would sort of bring dividends," said Jamieson.
"I guess that showed that, they were able to move around a little bit, but we were also able to get them out. It's just about trying to stay patient. I think especially in England with the way the ball does tend to move around throughout the innings that you don't want to allow guys to put you off the area. That's always going to be the hardest ball to play, and if you can hang in there long enough regardless of whether guys are moving around or moving forward or back, if you keep the ball there long enough, hopefully, you'll go all right.
There were quite a few rain interventions and only 64.4 overs were possible on day one in Southampton. Rohit and Gill put on a solid opening stand before India lost three wickets in the space of 26 runs. Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane then joined hands and have already added 58 runs for the fourth wicket. India were 146/3 at the end of the day's play, with Kohli and Rahane unbeaten on 44 and 29 respectively.
"I think it's probably pretty even at the moment. I think it was probably a pretty good day of Test cricket really. I think the disruptions probably didn't help the momentum we were trying to get and that we had at the time, and yeah, I think it was just a good day for cricket really. I think they played really well. They put away the bad balls when they were there and they were really patient outside off," said Jamieson.
"Our plan was just to kind of stick around there, and credit to them, they played pretty well, but I think we were able to, I guess, keep things relatively restricted and grab three important wickets, as well. I don't think they scored much more than two an over for most of the day, and yeah, I think that just shows that we were able to keep the ball in challenging areas for long periods, and that's what we pride ourselves on."
Jamieson said New Zealand always knew that things would get challenging against Kohli and Co. "We know they're a quality lineup from 1 to 11. There's a reason why they've been one of the top teams in the world for a long period of time. I think that you look at their lineup, you're always expecting those guys to play well. I think they've got pretty good records and they've done some pretty special things around the world, so we always knew it was going to be a challenge. They certainly played well through that first hour. They put away any sort of slightly bad ball and hit it for four basically or were able to score quite freely."
Indian batting coach Vikram Rathour said that anything over 250 would be a reasonable score on this surface but Jamieson feels that the batsmen could get more runs if they are more patient with their approach. "I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion around what they think is a good score and what's not. We certainly haven't spoken around a number and what that looks like. I think it's -- whilst the ball was still moving about, I don't think it's the worst surface, either.
"I think there are opportunities to score runs as a batting team, and whilst, like I said, there is still some help in terms of the ball moving around and still seaming that I think the Indian batters have shown that if you stay patient, there are still runs to be had. Whether 250 is a good score or more or less, I guess time will tell."