Will be wary of ‘dangerous’ Pant in WTC final: NZ bowling coach

New Zealand will be wary of the danger that Rishabh Pant poses when they face India in the World Test Championship (WTC) final, said the team’s bowling coach Shane Jurgensen.

India play New Zealand in the inaugural WTC title from June 18 to 22 at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.

“Well, Pant is an extremely dangerous player who can change the game on its head. We saw how well he did it against Australia and England. He’s extremely positive-minded, but with that comes potentially the opportunity to take his wicket,” Jurgensen told The Telegraph.

Pant shook off the bad form he went through in 2020 during India’s tour of Australia, in which he played an integral role in his team recording a second consecutive Test series win Down Under, despite the absence of a number key players. He has scored 515 runs in six Tests at an average of 64.37 this year.

“Our bowlers need to execute well, stay calm and make it as difficult as possible for Pant to score runs. He’s certainly a free-flowing batsman and a tough one to stop, which we should keep in mind,” said Jurgensen.

Jurgensen also noted that India’s bowling attack too poses a big threat.

“It’s a challenging bowling attack that India have. A lot of options are available for them. It’ll be a very, very stiff challenge we could face from (Jasprit) Bumrah to Shardul (Thakur), who’s an all-rounder and has done well in Australia too. There’s Mohammed Siraj and even their spinners, who can spin it both ways. It’s a group of formidable, outstanding Test bowlers,” he said.

Meanwhile, pace bowler Trent Boult, who will open bowling against India in World Test Championship (WTC) final next month, ended his managed isolation in New Zealand after returning from Indian Premier League (IPL) and will bowl for a week in Mount Maunganui before departing for England to join teammates. New Zealand play two Tests against England followed by WTC final in a space of three weeks.

Boult, who opted to go to New Zealand from India and not travel to Maldives like Kane Williamson, Mitchell Santner and Kyle Jamieson did, will miss the first Test against England on June 2 but will play the second Test beginning June 10. His absence will provide an opportunity to left-armer Neil Wagner to play alongside Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson.

“One of the things that I’ve been doing since we’ve been restricted to our rooms for these first few days is planning out each bowler’s preparation,” Jurgensen told reporters.

“With Trent, he’s been bowling away in isolation, albeit in his hotel room - I’ve received the odd Snapchat of him bowling, so he has been - then he’s going to go to Bay Oval (Mount Maunganui) under the marquee there and have a few overs specifically in terms of preparing for Test cricket, and then he’ll be over here,” Jurgensen added.

Boult is one of two left-arm pacers in New Zealand squad with Wagner being the other.

Doug Bracewell and Matt Henry are other two specialist pace bowling options with New Zealand.

Indo-Asian News Service