Indian batsmen's struggles against left-arm seamers once again came to the fore in the first ODI against New Zealand at Wankhede Stadium on Sunday
Trent Boult
Indian batsmen's struggles against left-arm seamers once again came to the fore in the first ODI against New Zealand at Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. Trent Boult was the only New Zealand bowler that the Indian batsmen, including centurion Virat Kohli, found it difficult to negate him as he finished with outstanding figures of 10-1-35-4 in the opening encounter of the three-match ODI series.
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Trent Boult
On a slow wicket, Boult smartly varied his lengths and made the most of the bounce that was on offer when India opted to bat. In recent times, left-arm seamers like Australia's Mitchell Starc and Jason Behrendoff, Pakistan's Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz have created problems for the Indian batsmen. Boult was an addition to that list on Sunday.
Boult, fresh from his five-wicket haul in the first warm-up match last week, set the tone for New Zealand with his first spell where he claimed the wickets of Indian openers Shikhar Dhawan (9) and Rohit Sharma (20) and conceded only seven runs in his first five overs. Since 2014, Rohit has been dismissed 12 times by left-arm pacers while Dhawan has been a victim 10 times.
Kohli too faced problems dealing with Boult as the Indian skipper could manage only 17 runs from the 24 balls he faced on the sweltering Sunday afternoon. Boult came back for two short spells. In the first one, he conceded 13 runs in two overs. His third, one-over spell got him the big wicket of MS Dhoni (25). Boult would be licking his lips to have a go at the Indian batsmen in the second ODI at Pune today where the wicket is generally juicy for pacers.
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