Face of Nation : “Why are you guys batting so slowly?” Ross Taylor was asked by commentator Kevin Pietersen before the start of proceedings on Wednesday. It was a casual off-the-camera enquiry. “Me and Williamson thought this was a 240 kind of a pitch,” Taylor replied. Pietersen persisted: “How good are you guys in reading pitches?” Taylor deadpanned, “We will find out.”
The world found out they had read it right. One man in New Zealand wasn’t surprised. Williamson’s batting coach since the age of 10, David Johnston. “He is always good at reading pitches. It was a strange wicket, wasn’t it? 250 on a cloudy day on a slow wicket will challenge the Indians,”.
Johnston was right and so was Williamson. The former was also prescient in his prediction: “The extra batter in Ravindra Jadeja may prove to be a good move by your boys.”
This was on Tuesday night, a day before the Indians batted. We know Williamson was taught by the right men. No wonder, he has turned out to be a good skipper.
Through the chase, Williamson kept making the attacking moves. Slips were packed in the morning. After Virat Kohli edged a ball that didn’t carry, Williamson moved two of the three slips ahead. Very close. Leaning, hands on knees and waiting for a mistake.
Kohli wasn’t at his best. Not only was he beaten, chasing a well-outside off delivery from Trent Boult, he also kept choosing the wrong options. Williamson had a short midwicket and a man at square-leg. Boult hurled a couple outside off. Kohli is too good a batsman to not know that one will come in. And there were men on the legside. He still shuffled across and tried to turn a nip-backer to the legside and it wasn’t a surprise when he missed it. He seemed angry at the DRS but later admitted it was anger at himself. In the 2015 World Cup semifinal, Kohli had chosen to pull and was swallowed off the top edge. Now this. He would be hurting.
But before that, New Zealand had already struck the most vital blow when Matt Henry winked out Rohit Sharma. The ball wobbled away a touch, in the corridor, and Sharma was opened up. The one thing that he was wary of. The one thing that he had carefully ensured didn’t happen in the tournament so far: his balance being upset. Once that happened, and he was almost squared up, the hip turned out and the bat nicked the bat. First strike – and the best man out.
Not many, apart from the Indian think tank, would have been surprised by the dismissal of KL Rahul. As of now, he doesn’t have the game to open in these conditions. He doesn’t get forward, doesn’t press backward and doesn’t stay still at the crease. At least one of the three is needed as an opener. He just wobbles away, plays from the crease, and is unsure of his off stump. He wanted to play, then changed his mind but there wasn’t enough time for such indecision – edge and gone.
Williamson kept Boult and Henry for one more over each and then brought on Lockie Ferguson. He kept Mitchell Santner, who has troubled MS Dhoni in the past, waiting. The bowlers pegged away but Dinesh Karthik tried to resist. Then a fielder intervened. Neesham flew to his left to pluck an airy square-drive, played well away from the body, inches off the ground.
