New Zealand's Daryl Mitchell looking forward to challenge of batting at No. 5
Oct 28, 2022
Sydney [Australia], October 28 : New Zealand's Daryl Mitchell admits to worrying about his T20 World Cup chances after breaking his finger only weeks before the prestigious tournament, but he is upbeat ahead of his comeback to New Zealand's middle order against Sri Lanka at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
Mitchell suffered the blow before the World Cup while batting in the nets before the tri-series involving Bangladesh and Pakistan in Christchurch.
"When you are sitting in the X-ray room and you see a fracture in your hand, you think that's probably the World Cup done. But we are really lucky that where the fracture is and the specialist gave us the timeframe to be back for game two, so it's all gone to plan and just looking forward to getting out there now," ESPNcricinfo quoted Mitchell as saying.
Mitchell took the role of opening batter in the previous T20 World Cup due to a last-minute tactical adjustment by New Zealand and led them to the final with a splendid unbeaten knock of 72 off 47 against England. This year, though, he has returned to the middle order, which is where he will bat at the SCG in lieu of Mark Chapman.
"That's one of my skill sets, I guess, to be adaptable to different positions. It comes down to my personality in some ways, I'm a competitor, I just want to get stuck into whatever role I've been given and try to win games. Whether that means batting one, or wherever else, I'll happily do it with a smile on my face," he said.
"I really enjoyed opening... but this role, the [No.] 5 positions, it's never the same, which is quite a cool challenge in that there are some sticky situations you have to come into and there's also some fun times as well," Mitchell said.
The Black Caps will play Sri Lanka in the only match on Saturday at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
