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India’s score of 306 for 7 on the Eden Park mini-pitch was almost on par, said centurion Tom Latham after his team’s easy seven-wicket win in the opener. ODI here on Friday.
Latham hit 145 off 104 balls and was involved in a running stand with captain Kane Williamson (94 not out) as New Zealand won by 47.1 runs.
Read also: Williamson, Latham’s formidable partnership strikes India and New Zealand win by seven wickets
“It was an even score. We did some good things with the ball up front and in the middle. They had a couple of cameos that they got in total over 300 runs,” Latham said in the post-match media interaction.
As far as his own form is concerned, he said it was his day and everything worked out for him.
“It’s one of those days. Whatever shots you play, they come. I’m at my best when I react to the ball rather than pre-meditate. Things just fall into place and you’re in a zone,” said Latham.
One of the game-changing factors for the hosts was definitely the situation of not sleeping with the captain.
“Building that stance with Kane was obviously important. The wicket (the pitch) had a little bit of width. I was under pressure and the idea was to make the match deep.”
Latham, who doesn’t play international T20s, has been in rhythm, thanks to plenty of domestic matches he’s been a part of.
“The preparation was nice. The focus was on being in strong positions (foot-wise) and responding to the ball. While Williamson didn’t get a hundred, Latham said the captain never cared about the milestones.
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“We (he and Williamson) feed off each other. We all know Kane and he’s not (the one who cares about) the milestones.” Latham, who had earlier scored 100 in an ODI against India In 2017 at Wankhede Stadium, he said that even when he was 99, he was thinking of the bigger picture.
“The bigger picture for me was the state of the game and once I got my 100 we still had a good time to bat and I was trying to get the team over the line.” As far as debutant fast bowler Imran Malik was concerned, Latham found he had to be quick but with two former Sunrisers Hyderabad players in their ranks, they had a plan in place for the youngster.
“Yes, he (Imran) was very fast. Obviously everyone was saying that throughout the IPL. Kane and Glenn (Phillips) had seen him at SRH so we had very little information.”
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