The New Zealand Bologna player, Matt Henry, is the last to join the ranks that have criticized India for playing all the games in the same place. Matt Henry feels that India had the luxury of knowing the conditions to know well compared to the other teams.
India plans to play all his games in the ongoing champions trophy in Dubai after they refused to travel to Pakistan. As a result, the opponent teams of India have criticized that India received an “undeniable advantage” of playing in one place.
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Matt Henry adds fuel to the criticism of the “advantage of the place” of India
After losing to India in the last match of the group stage of the tournament, New Zealand’s pacemaker, Matt Henry, talked about men in Blue’s familiarity with the conditions that allowed them to function well in the game.
“I think, obviously, the way to have four frontline spinners was a really effective way to play. I think having that luxury of knowing (conditions). They played the conditions wonderfully. That was probably the challenge for us,” Henry said at the press conference.
India played four spinners in this game: Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadaja, Axar Patel and Varun Chakravarthy. They decided to rest the rapid bowling player for this game, but his replacement Chakravarthy was very impressive with a five wickt route.
Before Matt Henry, a no. Of the previous and current Crickets they have clearly spoken in the advantage of India to play in similar conditions for the tournament. Some of those names are Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain and the current South Africa ranka van der Dussen batter.
Matt Henry Lauds de los Hilanderos de la India
While talking more at the press conference, Matt Henry also praised Indian players for their impressive performance. He said some special words for Chakravarthy for producing a brilliant action with his subtle variations.
“We knew they were going to play the four spinners. They threw themselves wonderfully. They read the situation and conditions well. Yes, unfortunately, we could not cross the line.” Henry said.
“He (Chakravarthy) played wonderfully, right?
“He extracted the turn and rhythm and simply, to be in a winning performance like that, to be able to create pressure and suppose that was what they did together,” said the pacer.
Matt Henry himself was also impressive in this game and returned with 5-42 figures in 8 overs. The New Zealand sailor was exceptional with the new ball and also launched well in the Death Overs.
Will India drop Varun Chakravarthy in the semifinal?
India will play Australia in the semifinal that will be played on March 4 in Dubai. With Chakravarthy, working exceptionally against New Zealand, India will have a selection headache.
Chakravarthy produced bright winning figures of a 5-42 match in 10 overs and also won the game player award. He proved to be Factor X of his team in the last game.
It is likely that the launch in Dubai helps the spinners and there is a high possibility that India will go with the same XI playing for this game. However, they will face a high quality Australian batting alignment that generally works well in ICC tournaments.