New Zealand’s Tom Latham has a special liking for the Indian bowling attack in ODIs. In his 100-plus one-day international (ODI) matches, his average is around 36 but against India he averages around 75! Latham was adjudged Man of the Series which India lost this week.
Here is an edited excerpt of an interaction with Latham, who spoke exclusively to Moneycontrol.com in Christchurch.
We are joined by the Man of the Series Tom Latham… Obviously a little frustrating the way this series has gone, how do you look at the entire performance of your team and your own as well?
Yeah… I think obviously the last two games and especially tonight from the bowling point of view, we bowled fantastically well. I think winning the toss on a fresh wicket…and being able to restrict India to 220 was outstanding and then I think the way Devon (Conway) and Finn Allen played was outstanding… To put them under a little bit of pressure in the first 10 overs, that was outstanding. To be in that position was outstanding but the rain did spoil the party.
There has been criticism post World Cup that India have been a little conservative, which is being said about New Zealand also. Do you think everyone is talking about the England template?
No, I don’t think so. You got to adapt to the conditions. I think the wickets had support to the bowlers in the start so sometimes you’ve got to absorb a little bit of pressure and then be able to put it back on them, but I think throughout the innings you have to take wickets at crucial times when partnerships are building and like I said, I think it’s all about trying to adapt to each surface. For us, it’s all about learning each time we play and adapting to each surface.
You had an outstanding series with the bat. Who would you say was really good if you were to pick one Indian bowler?
I think Washington Sundar bowled really well in Auckland, on a wicket that was turning. The bounce that he was able to get on that surface with a little bit of turn, I think he really bowled well in that game.
There were two youngsters, Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh, both making their ODI debut. Obviously, they couldn’t bowl as much as they could have. What are your thoughts on them, you have seen them in the Indian Premier League as well?
Yeah, Umran Malik is a pretty good talent, in terms of the pace he bowls, and Arshdeep Singh—I thought with the new ball he bowled beautifully well tonight, he swings the ball at a good pace and got a good bounce. So I think both of those guys have immense talent and I hope they do well for India.
New Zealand will be travelling to India in a few months, do you think the same result is possible to achieve in India? A series win?
That will be a fantastic achievement for us. The last couple of times we have been in India we have played some good cricket but we haven’t got the results in terms of a series win. I think whenever we play India it brings out the best in us, we’ve had some great games of cricket whether it’s in India or in New Zealand so I am really sure that in a few months’ time the guys will be really looking forward for the series in India.
This series was a little low profile with the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli not there but in their absence, the youngsters, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson were there. When you look at the Indian batting resources, what do you make of that?
I think India possesses a huge amount of talent and it shows in the depth that India has in their bowling stocks and their batting stocks. These guys play international cricket and get successful straight away, we have seen them in the IPL and they got an immense amount of talent. So yeah, I’m sure we’ll see a lot of these guys in the future.
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