Oram says Indian batters pose tall challenge for Kiwi bowlers

New Zealand bowling coach Jacob Oram praised India’s top three batters Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav, likening them to Sanath Jayasuriya. He admitted it was tough to contain India’s batting line-up and said motivating Kiwi bowlers remains a challenge

Visakhapatnam: New Zealand bowling coach Jacob Oram said the top three Indian batters Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav were batting like Sri Lankan great Sanath Jayasuriya.

“It’s been a little bit of chaos out in the middle with the ball flying everywhere. To remain calm and controlled, remember those plans and then execute them is important. But I say again, it’s all part of the learning,” Oram said on the eve of the fourth T20 international against India here on Tuesday.

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“Jayasuriya from Sri Lanka did the same thing at that time and I think that’s just a natural progression of the game. What you see is the tendency for bowlers to catch up and that’s our challenge now as the bowling coach. There are plenty of discussions happening,” Oram said.

The New Zealander admitted it had been a tall order to contain the Indian batting line-up with the top three in form. “Abhishek at the moment is in outstanding form, hitting it clean. But he is not the only one. Suryakumar played well, Ishan Kishan in the second game. We know there are challenges up and down the line-up,” he said.

Oram also said it had been a tough challenge to keep the bowlers motivated. “I think there are a couple of factors. The first and foremost is the realisation that it’s hard in these conditions. This isn’t New Zealand with green grass and the ball seeming and bouncing. We mentioned before about the likes of Abhishek, Surya, Ishan… it’s a good side and we appreciate that. I keep using the word challenge, so the challenge for us is to peel back those layers, to appreciate how hard it is here, but still find little things along the way that we can improve,” he said.