Simon Doull criticised Daryl Mitchell’s approach to reaching his hundred against India today (October 21), questioning whether he should have moved through the nineties quicker in order for New Zealand to set a bigger target.
Mitchell scored his fifth ODI century in Dharamsala, his first in an ODI World Cup, eventually reaching 130 off 127 balls. At the point that he moved into the nineties, New Zealand were 200-3 with 14 overs remaining of their innings, and had the potential to set India a huge score to chase.
However, after crossing into the nineties it took Mitchell ten balls to reach his hundred, which he brought up with a single off Jasprit Bumrah. A lower order collapse saw New Zealand bowled out for 273, and India chased it down with four wickets and 12 balls to spare.
Towards the end of the match, Doull criticised Mitchell’s approach at the back end of New Zealand’s innings on commentary. He said: “The other thing New Zealand might look back on, and Daryl Mitchell himself will probably look back on a little bit, is how long he took to get to a hundred, through the nineties.
“When you are chasing a target, I don’t care how long you take – if you win the game. It does not bother me one bit. When you’re setting a target, I know hundreds are great, but I think New Zealand left some runs out there while he was dawdling his way through the nineties.”
“And it put pressure on the other players,” replied Ramiz Raja. “The boundaries dried up, it was very rare that New Zealand reached the boundary at that stage.”
Between the point where Mitchell crossed into the nineties and reached three figures, New Zealand went 26 balls without scoring a boundary. They then went a further 14 balls after he reached his hundred without finding the fence. That drought was broken by a Glenn Phillips leg-side six – which gave New Zealand their first boundary in 40 balls.
“[People might say] ‘He got 130, what are you on about?’” said Doull. “It’s not about what he ended up on, it’s the balls that were used up during that time that perhaps he could have been more aggressive. He was seeing it well, one of the few that has played beautifully and it’s still a terrific innings, it’s just that time that you might look back on. And they’re small margins when you’re playing top quality teams, small margins.”
New Zealand’s defeat to India was their first loss of the tournament after they beat England, Netherlands, Bangladesh and Afghanistan in their first four games. Their next match is against Australia, again in Dharamsala, on Saturday, October 28.
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