We are confident of winning: Bhuvneshwar Kumar

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Press Trust of India Auckland
Last Updated : Jan 24 2014 | 11:05 AM IST
India medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar today said that his team was completely focussed ahead of its do-or-die match against New Zealand and confident of reversing the 0-2 deficit in the five-ODI series.
"There is no extra-ordinary pressure on us. We are confident of doing well. To win this match, we just need to be focussed on the game. We are not overconfident about winning, just confident enough," he said.
"If we can win tomorrow, it will lift us enough to even win three matches in a row and win the series," he added.
The visitors lost the first two ODIs -- at Napier by 24 runs and at Hamilton by 15 runs (D/L method) -- to go down 0-2 in a five-match series.
New Zealand have batted well in this series so far, with their in-form line-up not giving away many wickets in the middle overs. It has allowed their lower-order batsmen, particularly Corey Anderson, to make a late surge in the death overs.
"The middle overs are not a weakness. New Zealand have just played better cricket than us. We have just been focussing on keeping the run-rate down and we haven't been able to get wickets. We need to keep working on that," said Bhuvneshwar.
Asked to pick their opposition's most dangerous batsman, he replied, "There is no one name that we are concentrating on. Their whole batting line-up is in form at the moment. Jesse Ryder, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor...They are all in good touch. The aim is to get them all out, and not just focus on one player.
"Obviously we do need to get Anderson early. He has given them good scores in the last two matches, so we need to get him out cheaply to keep the scoring down," he added.
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First Published: Jan 24 2014 | 11:05 AM IST

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