New Zealand batsman Henry Nicholls said that considering the limited amount of one-day cricket between global tournaments make the ongoing series against Team India more important than ever.
While the next 50-over World Cup is still 22 months away, questions on the relevance of the format and context of the ongoing series have resurfaced as focus primarily remains on next month`s T20 World Cup 2026.
“Like you say there`s not as much one-day cricket between major events, I think that makes these series even more important,” he told the media ahead of the second ODI match against the “Men in Blue”.
The second ODI match between Team India and New Zealand is scheduled to be played on January 14 at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot.
“A few of us have been playing some List-A cricket back home, so we have got a bit of the format under our belt. But it`s a format that we enjoy playing so when you have those series now, they are more important than ever with limited amount,” he added.
When asked if the visitors were able to get any learning from playing against the stalwarts such as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Nicholls said facing the Indian bigwigs was a challenge.
“That`s the challenge when you come over here and certainly as a young group, even as an experienced group, is when you play against players who have played that much cricket. But also to see it firsthand in the first game and the way the guys adapted, certainly from a bowling point of view, bowling to those guys and finding ways to try and put them under pressure,” he said.
“If we are able to do some of those things even as an inexperienced side, then the nature of cricket is (that) if you`re able to take wickets, you`re able to put teams under pressure,” added the 34-year-old cricketer.
Ahead of the second match, the “Black Caps” will heavily rely on their middle-order batsman Daryl Mitchell to replicate his performance from the previous match. The right-handed batsman scored 84 runs in 71 balls, including five boundaries and three maximums.
(With PTI Inputs)
