New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Seifert took India bowlers to the cleaners during the first T20i between the two sides on Wednesday in Wellington. He hammered a 43-ball 84 with seven fours and six sixes to help the home side amass a mammoth 219/6 from their 20 overs and gave India a steep target to chase.
The visitors’ innings never got going as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and folded up for 139 to lose by 80 runs. The defeat was India’s worst in terms of runs in a T20I.
A self-confessed fan of Brendon McCullum, Seifert said he had watched and followed the former skipper while growing up.
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“Yeah, obviously. I’d be lying if I said Baz (McCullum) wasn’t one of my heroes growing up,” he said.
“Obviously you try to be yourself out there, but I definitely have looked at Baz throughout my childhood.”
Seifert scored six sixes and seven fours in his audacious knock which included a switch-hit boundary off Krunal Pandya’s left-arm spin.
“I kind of just looked at the field and, you know, it’s all in the moment. I don’t really practice it or anything, it’s just kind of in the spirit of it, but I just thought of his angle, and obviously got him slog-sweeping a couple of times, so I thought he maybe might slow it up. Yeah, it’s kind of a little punt you take, but it’s T20 cricket for you,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“I kind of just looked at the field and, you know, it’s all in the moment. I don’t really practice it or anything, it’s just kind of in the spirit of it, but I just thought of his angle, and obviously got him slog-sweeping a couple of times, so I thought he maybe might slow it up. Yeah, it’s kind of a little punt you take, but it’s T20 cricket for you,” he said.
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