New Zealand boast of an extremely well rounded side and this fact is exemplified when one glances at the talent that they have in their middle order. Hard hitting, impactful batsmen who can hit the ball long and hard make up the middle order for the Kiwis. The fact that these batsmen can also roll their arm over makes them the envy for every opposition captain.
Colin Munro
Colin Munro came in as a replacement for the hard hitting James Neesham in this Kiwi side but he has more or less cemented his place for the upcoming WT20 to be played in India.
He hit a devastating 34 and then followed it up with a cracking 50 off just 14 balls (the fastest by a New Zealander) against the Sri Lankan side. Before someone could call those innings a fluke, he laid in to the Pakistani bowling comprising of Wahab, Gul, Aamir and Afridi to score 56 off just 27 balls. He boasts of a very good hand eye co-ordination and his strike of nearly 160 runs per hundred balls is amongst the very best in the business. Slog sweeps and hits straight down the ground are his trademark shots.
He can also roll his arm over but with plenty of other choices with the Kiwi skipper he is rarely called upon. I think that Munro will be a great choice to bat at 3 in India as the ball will still be new and he can bash the hell out of any bowler. Even if he fails, the Kiwis have the cushion of Anderson, Taylor, Elliot to follow.
Impact Rating – 8/10
Corey Anderson
Corey Anderson announced himself to the world by cracking a 36 ball hundred in the New Year’s Day ODI in 2014. The strongly built lad has not looked back since then and has followed up with high impact and devastating innings with scary regularity.
He was injured recently and has missed quite some matches but made a comeback against the visiting Sri Lankan side playing purely as a batsman. He failed in both the matches and then scored a duck against Pakistan in the first T20. Just as his critics were ready to pounce on him, he hit back with a match winning 82* in just 42 balls and also claimed 2 wickets with his medium pace.
He is more than a handy bowler and gets wickets in almost all the games. He is also a very good fielder and has a safe pair of hands. The danger that Anderson presents to any opposition side is palpable and he can turn the course of matches in a few overs either with his batting or his bowling.
Impact Rating – 9/10
New Zealand will certainly look to go one step better than they did in the 50 over World Cup held in 2015. They have the right components required for going all the way and their machinery seems to be well oiled and humming with almost a transcendental music!!
This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.
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