New Zealand to review fielding lapses after India T20I series, says Milne

New Zealand fast bowler Adam Milne admitted his side had been sloppy in the field throughout the T20I series against India. The Kiwis dropped several catches in the fifth match, and Milne said they would review the errors after the series

Hamilton: New Zealand fast bowler Adam Milne admitted that his team had been “sloppy” in the field after dropping several catches in the ongoing T20I series against India.

The Kiwis dropped a couple of catches in the fifth T20I as well, besides handing the visitors a lifeline off a no-ball. Speaking after the first innings of the fifth T20I against India at Seddon Park here, Milne conceded that the Kiwis would review their fielding errors after the series.

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“Yeah, I’m not sure. We’ve been a little bit sloppy in the field the whole series, really. So it’s something we’ll look at at the end of the series and hopefully remedy it going forward,” he told broadcasters during the mid-innings break after India scored 191/8.

Blair Tickner dropped India captain Shreyas Iyer in the 10th over off Michael Bracewell at short fine leg after Iyer mishit a sweep, sending the ball high into the air. Later, Milne himself dropped Naman Dhir at sweeper cover in the 16th over off Tickner.

In between, Tilak Varma was handed a lifeline when he was caught by Finn Allen at backward point, but Nathan Smith had overstepped. However, Tilak was caught and bowled in the same over.

Meanwhile, Milne was confident that New Zealand had restricted India to 191/8. There was some swing on offer at the start, and the Kiwis did not allow the visitors to cross the 200-run mark.

“A little bit of swing early, which always helps. A little bit of inconsistent bounce; saw a number of wickets splicing and getting caught in the outfield. I think again, once it’s swinging, it’s sort of just trying to get it up there, use that swing. And fortunately, they hit a couple in the air today that went to fielders as opposed to the boundaries, and we got them early,” Milne said.

“Yeah, it’s interesting. Again, there was a little bit of variable bounce, but I think overall it was a pretty decent wicket. So hopefully we can knock them off,” he added.

Milne took 4-19, dismissing both openers as well as Nitish Kumar Reddy and Bhuvneshwar Kumar later in the innings.

“Well, to get the openers after Wellington is always pretty nice,” he said when asked about his favourite wickets of the day.