Whenever New Zealand and Indian teams face each other on the international cricket field, the performance of some special players completely changes the direction of the match. In an important match played recently, Kiwi team's experienced and deadly fast bowler Matt Henry once again destroyed the Indian batting order. The big guns of the Indian team looked completely helpless in front of Matt Henry's excellent bowling and swing. Seeing this performance, that painful scene of exactly seven years ago became fresh in the minds of cricket lovers, when the same bowler had broken the backbone of Indian batting in the initial overs in the semi-final match of the 2019 ICC ODI World Cup. Once again the same old story was repeated and Matt Henry emerged as the biggest crisis for the Indian team. That dreadful spell of the 2019 World Cup semi-final, which had broken the dreams of crores of Indian fans. No Indian fan can ever forget that World Cup semi-final of 2019 in the pages of cricket history. In that knockout match played at the Old Trafford ground in Manchester, when the Indian team came out to chase the target of 240 runs, Kiwi pacer Matt Henry wreaked havoc and showed the way to the pavilion to the top batsmen of India in the initial spell itself. Veteran batsmen like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul could not stand against Henry's swing and seam balls. That start of that match was so fatal that Team India could never recover from it and ultimately India had to be out of the tournament. Today once again when Matt Henry forced the Indian batsmen to kneel in the same manner, old wounds became green. Even in Indian pitches and conditions, the magic of the Kiwi pacer worked, no break was found. It is generally believed that the pitches of the Indian subcontinent are favorable for spinners and there the fast bowlers have to struggle after the initial swing. But Matt Henry demonstrated his excellent skills and disciplined line-length and proved that the best bowler can leave his mark on any pitch. From the very first ball of the match, he started making the Indian openers uncomfortable. The Indian batsmen had no solid answer to the inswing and outswing balls bowled by him. Every effort to stay at the crease proved futile and within no time the Indian innings once again fell apart like a pack of cards. Big questions raised on future strategies, it is necessary to overcome left arm fast bowlers and swing. After the Indian batsmen repeatedly kneeling against Matt Henry, now a big ideological crisis has arisen in front of the team management and coaching staff. In world cricket, whenever a team fields a fast bowler with good swing, questions are always raised on the technique of the Indian batsmen. Keeping in mind the upcoming big tournaments, Team India will have to work deeply on this weakness. It has become very important to work on how to face the new ball without any technical flaws and how to score runs in pressure situations. Otherwise, bowlers like Matt Henry will remain a major mental and technical threat for India in future matches as well.
