McCullum praises youngsters in win over India

Brendon McCullum's 49-ball 56 not out was sedate by his standards but after the win he surely is not complaining.

For a batsman of his calibre,Wednesday’s 49-ball 56 not out was sedate by any standards but New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum is not complaining as he heaped praise on the youngsters for the seven-wicket win over India.

McCullum praised the efforts of youngsters Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor in fashioning New Zealand’s second successive victory over India in the shortest version of the game.

Guptill scored a 28-ball 41 while Taylor’s 20-ball 31 put the hosts in the driving seat chasing India’s 160.

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“The way Martin batted up front,and the way he put pressure back on India was fantastic,” said McCullum,who shared a 54-run partnership with Guptill and then added another 50 with Taylor.

Lauding the youngsters in the side,McCullum said,”They did play with a lot of confidence. Ross has been playing well for a long time. Martin has come in and had some success early on. Those two guys in particular are pretty confident at the moment.”

Talking about his rather uncharacteristic batting,McCullum said there was no need for urgency since New Zealand had the required depth in batting to finish off the match.

Despite the record 23 sixes being hit in New Zealand’s seven-wicket win over India today — the previous best being 20 between India and Australia in a T20 World Cup match in Durban (2007) — only three sixes came from the blade of McCullum.

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“Measured is the one word for it. Probably it was not the most fluent innings I have played. The fact that we had such power at the other end,I was fortunate to be able to hang around and move around for a few singles,” said one of the world’s most explosive batsmen whose hurricane 158 not out for Kolkata Knight Riders in the inaugural Indian Premier League being one of the best.

“With the batting we had and given the short boundaries here,we knew we would be able to get a few boundaries later on. So there wasn’t an urgency,” he said.

He also cherished batting with Jacob Oram (29 not out) and finishing off the job after the T20 disappointment in Sydney where they lost by one run to Australia.

“I mentioned to Jake (Jacob) in the middle that it was like the old days finishing off an innings. It was nice to have a bit of experience,especially after the disappointment at Sydney. Being out there when winning runs were scored today was fun,” he said.