The plan that bowled India over

Black Caps bowling hero Matt Henry said he and fellow opener Trent Boult had a cunning plan against India, and it worked.

Their plan was to put the Indian batsmen under early pressure and never let up.

That worked out perfectly as India were humbled at 5-3, with Henry, the player of the match, snaring openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma, while Boult got the prized wicket of Virat Kohli.

From there, India struggled to get back into the game and eventually fell short by 18 runs.

‘‘Trent and I wanted to make sure we started on top,’’ the 27-year-old Henry said.

‘‘I suppose we did that our way, by keeping them coming forward and putting them under pressure.

‘‘We knew that they had a world-class batting lineup and to break that opening partnership and then Boulty to get Virat was huge.

‘‘But even from there, they’ve obviously got a long batting order and they’ve got the best closers in the game.

‘‘So we knew that once we got those early wickets, the job definitely wasn’t done. We knew they’d establish a partnership and try to take it deep.

‘‘It was a matter of controlling the run rate and try to build that up, so we could have some pressure towards the back end.’’

Although the team is on the other side of the world, Henry said he could feel the support from New Zealand is there for the team.

‘‘We’re very lucky as Kiwis,’’ he said. ‘‘We’ve got great support. There was a little, wee corner in the crowd that had the flags flying, which was brilliant.

‘‘There has also been some late nights-watching for people, so I’d imagine there would be some tired people around New Zealand.’’

‘‘I’d imagine there would be some tired people around New Zealand.’’

Matt Henry