India vs New Zealand: Colin Munro's influential innings justifies his selection at top of visitors' batting order

Before the beginning of New Zealand’s tour of India, a lot had been talked about the visitors’ plan to try their all-rounder Colin Munro at the top of the order. The Kiwi think-tank’s main motive was to see if he could fill the big boots of Brendon McCullum who was a menace for the opposition at the top of the order with his hard hitting abilities. The move was highly debated as some people opined in favor of it while others opined against it mainly because of his scratchy technique. However, as the tour nears conclusion, one can hardly question the move as it has worked wonders for both Munro and New Zealand. [caption id=“attachment_4193861” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Colin Munro has justified New Zealand selectors’ faith in him with his performances in India. AP[/caption] With his scintillating second T20I ton at Rajkot, Munro showed how dangerous he can be at the top of the order. Moreover, the fact that he is not merely a pinch-hitter but a full-fledged top-order batsman was visible in the way he compiled his innings. His innings of 109* laced with seven sixes and an equal number of fours was an absolute treat to watch. The fact that it came off only 58 deliveries might make it look like he was pretty lethal in dealing with the bowlers. On the contrary, he mixed caution with aggression in an excellent manner that helped him to carry his bat through the innings. He did benefit from a couple of lives given by the Indian fielders but that is a part and parcel of the game. The thing that matters is the way he made those opportunities count. He may not have as great a technique as most of his other contemporaries who bat at the top of the order. But, he has a beautiful hand eye co-ordination that enables him to deal with the most venomous deliveries. And his penchant for hitting sixes at his own sweet will can destroy the confidence of even the best bowlers in the world. On Saturday, he treated the good deliveries with respect and also latched on to those wherever he saw a little opportunity to score runs. Although, the move to switch him to the top of the order was inspired by the rise of pinch hitters in T20 cricket since last year, his temperament to play the long innings clearly suggested that he was way more than that. The way he plays those big shots with a clean swing of the arms unlike a slogger is very much similar to that of classy left-handed batsmen like Yuvraj Singh, Mathew Hayden, Mike Hussey and others. He may not be the regular conventional opener who has a copy-book technique but he is similar to the genre of players like Virender Sehwag and Adam Gilchrist — those who went on to have celebrated careers despite having technical frailties in batting. Scores of 28, 11 and 75 in the ODI series and a scintillating 109* in the second T20I to go with a score of 7 in the first, might suggest an average outing for him in this tour. However, both of his highest scores in the ODI series and T20I series have made high impacts on the results of the game. After struggling in the first two ODIs, Munro produced his best of the series in the decider at Kanpur as he scarred India with a superb knock of 75 off just 62 deliveries. Although, it didn’t help New Zealand in chasing down India’s total of 337, it did keep them in the hunt for more than half of the game and kept the fate of the series on tenterhooks. And he completed his unfinished work at Kanpur with a fabulous knock off 109* in the second T20I at Rajkot thus powering his team to a 40-run victory to level the T20I series with the hosts. So, despite not being consistent enough in the tour, he has had a direct impact on the results of both the series. This ability to turn up in crunch situations is exactly what is going to take him ahead in his international career. He is already into his thirties and his international career hasn’t flourished yet. Age is definitely not on his side but his career has got a kick-start in the right direction in the last couple of years or so. He is in great form at the moment and probably in the best phase of his career so far. He will only want to get better from here on so that there is no looking back. He has the belief that he can make it big in the remaining time he has in international cricket which certainly isn’t a good news for the bowlers. Oppositions beware, Colin Munro is on a one-way train!