Breaking India’s Opening Partnership Held Key: Matt Henry

Manchester: The much-famed Indian batting line-up stood at 5/3 in the fourth over with Rohit Sharma (1), Virat Kohli (1) and K.L. Rahul (1) back in the hut in the first semi-final against New Zealand on Wednesday. While Trent Boult picked the all-crucial wicket of Kohli, Matt Henry said that breaking the opening partnership held the key for the Kiwis. Henry finished with three wickets as New Zealand defeated India by 18 runs at the Old Trafford to enter the finals of the ongoing World Cup.

“We wanted to get on top and put them under pressure. India have a world-class batting line-up and to break that opening partnership was huge. They (India) bat a long way down and we were aware that the work wasn’t done after the first ten overs. We knew they would establish a partnership and we had to, therefore, control the run rate. We’ve faced so many challenges through this tournament, we just had to focus on our brand of cricket and trust the match winners we have in our dressing room. Whatever happened in the past didn’t really matter.

“This is up right there for me, coming into a semi-final and coming out on the right side of a tight match is always going to be tough to beat,” Henry, who was adjudged the Player of the Match, explained. IANS

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