VISAKHAPATNAM: When Tim Seifert took guard against Jasprit Bumrah in the fifth over of the match at the ACA-VDCA Stadium, the last thing he would have wanted was a repeat of what happened in Guwahati. Seifert got a peach of a delivery from Bumrah on the very first ball of his spell and lost his off-stump.
Here, he had done the hard work, thrashing Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh all over the park, getting to 38 from 17 balls. Not the kind of start he would want to give away. Seifert did the safest thing he could do against Bumrah, take a single.
However, the thing with Seifert though, is that if the ball is in his zone, he will try and hit. The New Zealander has had a reputation for it right from the time he broke into the circuit way back in 2018. A very Brendon McCullum-esque hitting style, especially in the power play, is what he had been known for. He charges at pacers, slaps them through the line with his fast hands and tried to get underneath deliveries before launching them. That is what he did to Rana and Arshdeep in the first four overs. Full deliveries were sent down the ground or over cover, and then he had a slice of luck where leading edges flew over third-man.
Just because Bumrah is Bumrah, Seifert wasn’t going to lay low. Off the third delivery in Bumrah's first over, he smashed a length ball from Bumrah over his head and into the stands.
In front of a silent Indian crowd, Seifert was doing what he does best. Teeing off. Over the last few years, that is all he has been doing across the globe. One of the several New Zealand players who opted out of central contracts, Seifert has a casual playing agreement with the board. This allows him to be a T20 globe-trotter — a journey to which the seeds were laid in the 2020 Caribbean Premier League where Seifert helped Trinbago Knight Riders win the title under McCullum.
Over the last 12 months, he has played in the Big Bash League, ILT20, Major League Cricket, Pakistan Super League and the Caribbean Premier League. In fact, till January 17, he was donning the Melbourne Renegades jersey in BBL. It was a two-year deal from them that allowed him to opt out of the NZC contract. And when he is not playing in franchise leagues, despite not having a domestic contract, Seifert turns up for Northern Districts to stake a claim for his place in the New Zealand T20I side.
All this experience around the world has allowed him to upskill himself against spinners as well. It was visible on Wednesday, with Ravi Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav taking a beating till he was in the middle. Even in Raipur, his dismissal came against the run of play when he tried to take on Varun Chakravarthy. In Visakhapatnam, he got a lucky boundary against Bishnoi before launching Kuldeep deep into the midwicket stands.
Seifert’s counterattack also allowed Devon Conway to take some time and gain confidence. They added 100 runs before Conway fell. Soon, Rachin Ravindra followed. Seifert, meanwhile, raced to 62 off 35 balls. That is when a slower one from Arshdeep deceived Seifert just enough for him to hit it straight to the long-off fielder. Once he got out, New Zealand lost a bit of momentum before Daryl Mitchell took them to 215/7.
That being said, irrespective of the result, Seifert once again showed why he is essential for New Zealand to have a good start and a World Cup. For he is their hitman at the top and they need him now more than ever to come to the party.