Devon Conway, New Zealand’s opening batsman, is overjoyed to have added the sweep and reverse sweep to his arsenal ahead of the ODI World Cup in India later this year.
New Zealand is on a bittersweet tour of the Indian subcontinent. After winning the ODI series in Pakistan, the Black Caps were defeated 0-3 in the 50-over matches in India.
Conway achieved two Test hundred in the drawn series against Pakistan, followed by a 138 in the third ODI against India, negotiating spinners from both countries.
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“I’m certainly pretty happy with how things have gone, personally, over the last month-and-a-half,” Conway said at the post-match press conference.
“There’s been a lot of learnings for me, how to attack spin in the subcontinent. I’ve had to learn how to sweep, reverse sweep and put bowlers under pressure as much as possible.” The 31-year-old opener has emerged as a force to reckon with at the top, boasting of the an exceptional record across all three formats that includes a double century on Test debut.
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“I’ve been very fortunate to have good experience in our group. We had Kane with us in Pakistan, it gave me the opportunity to have those conversations with him and Tommy Latham – guys who’ve played here in these conditions quite often – and see how they go about it.
“For me, I can take a lot of learning moving forward, especially for the World Cup coming up,” he added.
The third One-Day International against India began on a difficult note for the Kiwis, with Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill sharing a 212-run opening stand.
“It was a challenge for our bowlers today, it was a batting surface. The nature in which Rohit and Shubman batted put serious pressure on us. We just tried to hang in there and break the partnership and the put pressure on the new batter.” New Zealand were without the services of several senior players including the pace duo of Trent Boult and Tim Southee.
“The absence of Boulty and Southee is massive for us, they are very experienced bowlers but on the flipside it has given opportunity for the younger bowlers to come through and learn on the go,” said Conway.
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