The rivalry with Australia gets the best out of our players: Ross Taylor

Ross Taylor has stated that New Zealand might not opt for the successful three-spin strategy which bamboozled India couple of days ago at Nagpur. He praised the skipper Kane Williamson and the coach for the experimental decision which resulted in a stunning victory.

“It was a big call but we knew what the wicket was going to play like, with the games beforehand and just looking at the wicket we knew it was going to take some turn. It did probably turn a little more than we were expecting. And you know a lot of credit has to go to Kane (Williamson) and Hess (Mike Hesson) first of all for coming up with the plan, then for the forthright to go with it. You have got two very experienced players, who have had a lot of success in these conditions, it takes a lot of guts to do that,” Taylor said in a press conference at the HPCA Stadium on Thursday (March 17).

“Obviously we have to wait and see what the conditions are like,” he said. The boundaries are lot smaller here. In Nagpur the boundaries were so big, so you couldn’t attack the spinners as much as you would have liked because if you didn’t hit the ball 100%, you were going to get caught at the boundary. Rotating the strike played a big part there but here mishits can still go for six. We just have to wait and see.”

“Every game is totally different and we need to access the conditions here and of course with rain around it could be a shortened game and we need to change the balance. Maybe we will not go in with three spinners and obviously different power options as well.”

The experienced campaigner also has a word for his teammate about bot getting carried away by the previous victory.

“Its just one game in what is a short and condensed tournament. Lot of games to be played. The big positives were the way our spinners played. It was the first time we have got in with that balance. (Mitchell) Santner and Ish (Sodhi) bowled outstandingly well. We are accustomed to Nathan and his T20 record is outstanding but those guys are very inexperienced, to come out and play in front of such a big crowd in such a big game, they will take a lot of confidence.”

Ross Taylor also had an answer to Australia’s Shane Watson who pointed out on the poor record which the Blackcaps have against their Trans-Tasman rivals.

“We’ll certainly be letting them know of that as well, because they’re going to have to be at their absolute best to beat us,” Watson said earlier this week.

The two teams have played a total of 15 World Cup and Champions Trophy matches, with NZ having won just three of them.

“Both teams in the past have their moments against spin. I think spin will have a big role to play tomorrow and whatever happened 12 months ago is gone and it is a new team that is looking forward to play in bigger matches”

“The rivalry still matters whatever sport it is. Be it cricket, rugby, hockey it’s always special for a New Zealander to win over there,” he said pointing out recent their victory in the Chappell-Hadlee trophy recently.

“But at the same time with the trans-Tasman rivalry we like to bar up and it gets the best out of our players.”

“These are totally foreign conditions to what we played on at Eden Park and the MCG (during the 2015 World Cup). It’s a new team, with players who didn’t even play in that game. They’ll be looking forward to the big occasion,” Taylor said.