India pacer Gurnoor Brar has said pulling his length back after conceding a six in his first over helped him reap rich dividends against New Zealand in the first ODI here.
Brar was summoned by skipper Shubman Gill in the 13th over at the Eden Park, but the gangly pacer gave away 13 runs in the first over, including a six by Tim Seifert.
But the 6’5 fast bowler soon adjusted his length and had his revenge, dismissing Seifert with a snorter outside the off-stump in the 15th over.
The Kiwi batter could only slice it to substitute fielder Ruturaj Gaikwad at mid-on.
“The six I conceded off my first over was on a slightly fuller delivery. So, my thought process was to pull the length back to make it harder to hit over square leg or fine leg,” Brar told BCCI.tv.
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“I discussed this with Arshdeep (Singh) and Anshul (Kamboj), who had bowled on this wicket. They suggested if we hit the hard length, I would get better bounce because of my height,” he added.
Brar later added the wickets of Tom Latham and Blair Tickner to keep the Kiwis on the back foot.
“The atmosphere here is very good for bowling. The wickets are quite good. We had practiced here four or five days earlier, so the wicket was similar. I just backed my strength and bowling style, and these are the results,” he said.
With ace batter Virat Kohli making a fine 74, India defeated New Zealand by 5 wickets in a rain-hit match to take 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Published on Nov 05, 2026
