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NEW DELHI: T he Twenty20 format is considered a batsman’s game. But in the World Twenty20, New Zealand have produced results that prove it could also be won with a disciplined bowling unit. In the four group games, their bowlers took 32 wickets. Their semifinal opponents England managed to take only 22 wickets.

Despite New Zealand playing three games on spin-friendly tracks, the manner in which skipper Kane Williamson used spinners and pacers showed his attacking game plan while the batting side was forced to change its approach quite often. The Kiwi bowlers have shown lot of patience and discipline while defending small targets. Spinners Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner have bowled tight lines and adapted quickly on Indian tracks.

Since the inaugural WT20, this is the only set of bowlers whose economy rate has not crossed eight runs an over. All the bowlers average below 20, underlining a mindset to pick wickets. On the other hand, David Willey is the only England bowler to average 20.

For New Zealand, this edition has been the best in terms of how they have grown as a bowling unit in the absence of Daniel Vettori and Tim Southee. In the last WT20 in Bangladesh two years ago, the Kiwis had only picked 26 wickets and their economy rates and aver- ages reflected their defensive mindset. In Sri Lanka in 2012, Vettori and Nathan McCullum together had six wickets in five matches while Southee was the only bowler who picked wickets at the top. In 2010 in West Indies, Vettori again had just three wickets while McCullum had seven.

WORSENING In contrast, England’s bowling has come down. After Graeme Swann and Stuar t Broad, England have struggled to find bowlers capable of bowling under pressure. Both Swann and Broad picked 14 wickets in 2012 and England had picked 29 scalps, out of a possible 50. In the next edition, out of the possible 40, England picked just 14 in the absence of Swann.