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Cricket Players'They need to get him out early' - Harbhajan Singh has a piece of advice for Team India ahead of New Zealand game
T20 World Cup: India will be looking for their first win in the competition on Sunday, having earlier lost to Pakistan by 10 wickets in their opener.
Veteran Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh has a crucial piece of advice to offer to the Indian team ahead of their T20 World Cup tie against New Zealand on October 31 in Dubai. India will be looking for their first win in the competition on Sunday, having earlier lost to Pakistan by 10 wickets in their opener.
Talking in a video posted on his YouTube channel, Harbhajan feels that India should begin putting some pressure on captain Kane Williamson early on as his quick departure might lead to New Zealand's stuttering and posting a low total.
"India will have to build pressure on Kane Williamson upfront. If India can get him out early, I believe they can even keep their score under 130. And if they do that, India will be able to chase it easily," Harbhajan said.
India can bring Mohammed Shami into the attack against the New Zealand skipper, whom he has dismissed four times in theT20s, conceding 49 runs in 37 balls.
India can also go ahead of Varun Chakravarthy against Williamson. In the last two years in T20 cricket, he has shown signs of discomfort against the right-arm leg break variety, scoring at a strike rate of just 110.3, the second-lowest among all types of attack after left-arm pace. And in the last two IPL campaigns in the UAE, his strike rate against the variety fell to 102.8 for just one dismissal. India might want to go with Varun against the New Zealand skipper, whom he has faced twice in IPL with the batter managing two runs off four balls.
Harbhajan also wants Kohli to replicate MS Dhoni's strategies in setting the field.
"T20s is such a format where if you don't take wickets, you'll keep getting further away from the game. For that, the pressure will have to be created in the field setting like MS Dhoni does when he captains CSK.
"He puts the fielder in such a place where the ball will go. It's not necessarily the orthodox midwicket or cover, he moves his fielders to places where the ball is expected to go. I expect this kind of captaincy and this kind of awareness from India in this match," he concluded.
