Auckland, Nov 4 (IANS) Almost a month after a chastening ODI debut, where he gave away 82 runs against the West Indies in New Chandigarh, Anshul Kamboj made sure his second outing in the format would be remembered for the right reasons. The Haryana seamer strangled New Zealand’s batters at Eden Park on Wednesday, as he picked 2-22 in his ten overs, including bowling 46 dot balls.

Kamboj’s spell was one of the reasons behind India bowling out New Zealand out for 185 in 40.2 overs. He was subsequently named Player of the Match in India’s five-wicket win by the DLS method in the series opener at Eden Park.

Asked on bouncing back after not having a great ODI debut, where he arrived rushingly as Prasidh Krishna’s replacement, Kamboj said the desire to do better drove him to put up a masterly spell in Auckland.

“Basically, if someone has a bad match, it doesn’t decide whether someone’s career is going to be good or bad. I was doing the same thing from the beginning and I am still doing the same thing. So, one match going bad didn’t affect me much. I just got the motivation to do better,” he said in the post-match press conference.

Asked about the outside noise after his Test debut against England at Manchester last year didn’t go well, Kamboj added, “Actually, I don’t pay much attention to these things. I focus more on my cricket and see how I can improve it. I don’t pay attention to what people think about me or what they say about me. So, it doesn’t make much difference to me.”

Introduced as first change, Kamboj was the pick of India’s four pacers. He got the skid and utilised extra bounce on offer to keep a tight grip on the middle overs. It resulted in him removing New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner and Nathan Smith.

“Actually, today’s wicket was a little seaming one. But it was also necessary that you have to put it on a good length. Only then you will get a purchase from the wicket. Otherwise, if you miss the length, you can get hit for runs.

“So, I was trying to put it in as many good areas as possible. I didn’t think much about the result because there was a lot of purchase on the wicket if you were bowling in the right area,” he said.

While Kamboj built the pressure, Arshdeep Singh (4-70) and Gurnoor Brar (3-44) cashed in at the other end, sharing seven wickets between them. New Zealand were in danger of collapsing for far less before a 39-run last-wicket stand between Blair Tickner and Jacob Duffy, the highest partnership of the innings.

Kamboj said his job was simply to hold one end. “If someone is bowling well from one end, then the wicket is bound to come from the other end. So, that’s it - keep putting as much pressure as possible. If they are stuck, then keep them stuck for a longer period of time.

“Don’t give them easy boundaries or easy runs because if you don’t give them easy runs, then they will play a wrong shot in order to get runs. They will do something. So, that’s it - I wasn’t thinking much. I was just thinking about bowling in better areas because they were obviously getting out from the other end. So, I didn’t need to try much.”

Nor Kamboj was bothered by Eden Park’s famously short boundaries. “Basically, there are such small grounds in India as well. So, dimensions don’t make much difference. When you look at the wicket, you look at what you have to do on the wicket and not at the dimensions. Dimensions come when there is no purchase on the wicket. Then dimensions come in the game.”

After two rain interruptions, India were set a revised target of 143 in 32 overs. Virat Kohli’s 74 off 51 balls took them home in 22.4 overs and a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. Kamboj, also a handy batter, said preparation was the key to his confidence.

“If you come well prepared, then obviously you will get confidence. So, just prepare yourself as well as you can so that there is no surprise in the match. Just be ready for everything.”

On juggling both skills, he kept it simple. “The role of an all-rounder is that if you have a ball in your hand, you are a bowler. If you have a bat in your hand, you are a batsman. So, that’s it. So, you just have to focus on these things. You don’t have to focus on bowling while batting. You don’t have to focus on batting while bowling.

“So, that’s the focus. When you have a bat in your hand, you only think about batting. When you have a ball in your hand, you only think about bowling. As such, you just have to improve your batting. If you have a bowling, you just have to improve your bowling.”

Looking ahead to the second game in Wellington on Saturday, Kamboj said the aim was to carry the rhythm forward. “Just looking to build the same momentum in the next match as well. In fact, in every match, whichever is possible. So, just not thinking about anything. Just working on my things which I can improve - regarding the bowling, batting, or fielding. Whatever it is, just working on that.”

--IANS

nr/bc