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Mumbai, Nov 13: Despite of losing out Matt Henry due to a torn right hamstring, star pacer Lockie Ferguson firmly believes that New Zealand have a ‘handsome bunch’ and are very much ready for the crucial semi-final clash against hosts, India on Wednesday.
Ferguson feels that the Kiwis have all the bases covered for the semis and like every other game, they’ll be looking to tighten things up.
New Zealand had the better NRR compared to Pakistan and Afghanistan going into the final matchday of the league and with their victory against Sri Lanka, it was enough for the 2019 ICC World Cup runners-up to qualify for the business round of the competition.
“We look good here. Matt Henry is obviously a big hole in our side and we’re still a handsome bunch without Matt Henry,” Ferguson told the media ahead of New Zealand’s training session at the Wankhede Stadium.
“I will take that on the chin, but now, from a cricket point of view, Tim Southee brings a lot of experience. Obviously, being captain of the Test team, captain in the T20s and one-dayers too, that experience counts for a lot.”
Ferguson said Southee also has the requisite experience of playing in India and that should hold New Zealand in good stead. “He has also played a lot in India, which is great too, obviously pretty disheartened with how Matt Henry exited the World Cup, which was such a shame.
“We know injuries always come at the worst time, but no doubt he will be supporting from back home and Tim Southee is raring to go,” Ferguson added.
Ferguson said even though the template here at the Wankhede has been about team batting first after winning toss, New Zealand will have ready plans for all situations.
“The stats are probably favouring batting first, but at the same time it is (a) not up to me, and (b) we have to play the game on the day. Whatever it might be, bat or ball ball first, we have got plans for that. And it is important to stick to them.
“Obviously, (it would be) nice to bowl under lights and always from a bowling point of view. (It is) nice to see when the ball does move around a bit and brings us into the game. We will just have to play it as we see it come game day,” Ferguson added.
The right-arm pacer heaped praise on the young Rachin Ravindra, who has been the find of the tournament with his sensational batting show across the league stage.
“Yeah, good player, right? Very good player. I have sort of seen Rachin progress from domestic stages and played some New Zealand A-games with him. I think probably on and off the field, he has got an exceptional attitude the way he goes about life, but especially with his cricket,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson acknowledged that playing in India on high-scoring wickets have been challenging for the bowlers.
“From our point of view, it is trying to understand what the pitch will be like and try to read what a good score on it is because of course those big overs can cost you at the back end of the innings.
“So from a bowling point of view we’re trying to shut down those big overs, try to understand what we think is a good total on the score,” he said.
“It is an experience thing (and) it is an assessment thing. The pitch will be different again, that is the joy of cricket, we play on a different pitch each time, so it is hard to read two days out.”
Having lost their league stage game against India earlier in the tournament in Dharamsala, Ferguson said it will be crucial for New Zealand to be as ‘tight’ as possible.
“It was a hard-fought game. I thought that (it) has been extremely well to get a great total on that. And of course, with one-day cricket and playing against India, there is a lot of ebbs and flows.
“It is not going to be any different come this game. We have just got to tighten up as much as we can,” Ferguson added.
(With PTI Inputs)
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