Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) director of cricket operations Mike Hesson believes that Virat Kohli will find it difficult to face the New Zealand fast bowlers in the upcoming T20I series. Hesson said that it will be interesting to see how the India skipper will negotiate the first 10-20 deliveries against the pacers but added that if he can get good starts against the Kiwis, the hosts may find it difficult to stop him. India will be taking on New Zealand in the first match of the five-game series in Auckland on Friday.
“For me, the match-up I am interested to see is how Virat Kohli deals with New Zealand seamers in his first 10-20 balls. If he can get starts in NZ, then his hunger for runs will make him difficult to dislodge Kane Williamson,” Hesson was quoted as saying in the Times of India.
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While talking about interesting player clashes in the series, Hesson pointed out that with a little bit of swing on offer in the New Zealand, Trent Boult may bother Rohit Sharma. Rohit has been enjoying a good run of form lately but considering New Zealand’s brilliant record at home, he can find it difficult to score against the bowlers.
“Trent Boult versus Rohit Sharma in ODIs will be a fascinating match up with a little bit of swing on offer. New Zealand are very hard to beat at home as you can see by their recent record. I, however, see India having a far more suitable seam bowling attack than they had back in 2014 which means this will be a very even and competitive series,” added Hesson.
{{/usCountry}}“Trent Boult versus Rohit Sharma in ODIs will be a fascinating match up with a little bit of swing on offer. New Zealand are very hard to beat at home as you can see by their recent record. I, however, see India having a far more suitable seam bowling attack than they had back in 2014 which means this will be a very even and competitive series,” added Hesson.
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Even Virat Kohli admitted the fact that New Zealand will have a slight home advantage to begin.
“They will have slight home advantage but we have played a lot here in the past seasons. Every series is a fresh start and New Zealand in New Zealand is obviously a bigger challenge than playing them back in India. So we definitely have to be at our best game,” he said.