India versus New Zealand: Daryl Mitchell uses his feet, long reach to put Indian bowlers under pressure | Cricket-world-cup News

When Daryl Mitchell walked into the middle, New Zealand were in a spot of bother in the powerplay with two wickets down and just 19 runs on board. the time he was dismissed, going for big runs in the final over of the innings, New Zealand had enough on the board for the bowlers to try and defend. Mitchell’s 130 off 127 was a mixture of cautious play and some bold hitting, including against the difficult to hit spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja. The standout feature of his innings was the use of his feet and long levers to find the boundaries and unsettle the bowlers.
Early in his innings, it was evident that Mitchell was not going to let the bowlers dictate terms as they had at the start. Mitchell was New Zealand’s man for the mini crisis. He began making his intentions clear advancing down the wicket to upset fast bowler Mohammed Siraj’s length.
No big shot yet but he is not going to just knock around the ball and look to survive.
He took a couple of steps down the track to Siraj. The fast bowler, who had pitched the ball in the 6metre to 8m good length region, changed his tactics. Soon he went for a barrage of short balls angling in on the Kiwi batter. In the attempt to do so though, he’d concede three wides in the same over. Michell tried to be the disruptor, not against just the fast bowlers but when facing spinners too.

Mitchell’s middle overs domination of the Indian bowlers, reaching out for the ball when he didn’t reach the pitch and also being agile on his feet worked for him.
The best display of the skill was his takedown of India’s chief spinner in Kuldeep Yadav. The left-arm wr spinner has barely put a foot wrong this year, leading the wickets tally for India in the format. Alongside Jadeja, Kuldeep’s presence in the middle overs has been a major reason behind India not conceding big at this World Cup so far. On Sunday though, Kuldeep didn’t get much help from the surface. Rachin Ravindra, the New Zealand No.3, with whom Mitchell added 159 runs for the third wicket, said the wicket ‘didn’t offer much turn’.

Ravindra would play the slower bowlers tracking back in the crease and using his wrs to carve out late strokes. For his partner at the other end though, the first sight of tossed up deliveries, was enough of an invitation to waltz down the track to claim maximums. As evidenced the three biggies he hit off Kuldeep Yadav.
The first of them – a mighty heave over mid wicket – should’ve been enough of an omen for the left-arm spinner to change lengths. He wouldn’t, and the hits kept on coming. The second was even bigger. The third was smashed into the sight screen. Kuldeep almost got Mitchell with a tossed up delivery but Jasprit Bumrah at long off spilled the catch.

While shimmying down the track seemed to have been working just fine, as the innings progressed, Mitchell would turn to a different skill set. Shane Watson said on air, “It’s his reach. That front foot coming out.”
He flexed it against India’s premium speedster Bumrah in the death overs as Mitchell latched onto one of his meant-to-be-wide yorkers and lofted it over mid off for four.
There was a phase when New Zealand struggled to find boundaries, but the attacking Mitchell hung in there. In the final over from Mohammed Shami, he found 10 runs with a six and a four, before getting caught at deep mid-wicket.
Late bloomer
Mitchell’s is a story of years of toiling in the domestic circuit. Years that also saw Mitchell move to Perth, Australia and share the field with the likes of Marcus Stoinis and Andrew Tye in his formative years.Most Read
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Having made his domestic debut for Northern Dricts in 2011 at the age of 20, it wasn’t until 2021 that Mitchell received his first ODI cap for the Kiwis. The same year he’d propel the Kiwis to their first-ever T20 World Cup final in the United Arab Emirates. He played another vital innings in the semifinals against England after New Zealand had lost two early wickets.

Mitchell’s credentials with the bat have only gotten better since. The following year, he’d cement his status as one of the only five New Zealand batters to have scored tons in three consecutive Test matches.
While it may have taken him the longest to arrive in the 50-overs cricket, Mitchell finally seems to be coming of age in the format – having scored four of his five tons this year alone.