'Batting on a trampoline': Daryl Mitchell explains Wellington pitch after New Zealand's collapse against India
toi
newspoint|07-11-2026
New Zealand's batting struggles in the second ODI against India were not just about losing wickets but also about dealing with a surface that offered little consistency. Describing the Wellington pitch as being like "batting on a trampoline", Daryl Mitchell admitted that unpredictable bounce and the difficulty of rotating strike made life uncomfortable for the hosts, who were bowled out for just 134 on Saturday.
Mitchell, who top-scored with 55 off 104 balls, said the batters were never entirely sure how high the ball would come through, making it difficult to settle into their innings. While New Zealand managed to scrape together a total, the right-hander conceded that they had hoped to put more runs on the board.
“It’s pretty challenging out there. Obviously, we’d always like a few more, but yeah, it’s like batting on a trampoline at times. We weren’t quite sure what height the ball was going to come through at. We scraped. We tried to do all we could and hopefully something special with the ball and you never know,” Mitchell told the broadcasters after New Zealand were bowled out.
He also highlighted the difficulty of finding gaps and keeping the scoreboard moving, particularly because of the nature of the drop-in surface, which made taking quick singles a challenge.
“All of us found it really hard to rotate the strike as well, and especially being, I guess, a drop-in with no pitches either side. It’s really hard, I guess, to drop and run and it just stops. So you add that to the bounce, sometimes, yeah, the only best option was to try and give it a hoe and see what happens,” he added.
Despite the challenging conditions, Mitchell said he tried to stick to his strengths and read the Indian bowlers' plans. However, New Zealand struggled to build partnerships, with wickets falling whenever the hosts appeared to be finding some momentum.
“Yeah, I guess just trying to stick to your strengths, and for me, it was when I kind of tried to get a read on what they were trying to do. I was trying to maximise that, but yeah, obviously we wanted to keep extending partnerships as well, and that was probably the challenge, because every time we felt like we got a partnership, we’d lost the wicket,” the all-rounder stated.
New Zealand's most productive partnership came between Mitchell and Mitchell Santner, who added 59 runs for the sixth wicket after the hosts were reduced to 53/5. Mitchell's resistance helped New Zealand cross the 130-run mark, but the hosts were unable to build on that recovery and finished with 134.
Despite the modest total, Mitchell remained hopeful of a turnaround with the ball. He believed early breakthroughs could put India under pressure and give New Zealand a chance to get back into the contest.
“Yeah, look, there’s plenty there, first and foremost. Obviously, there’s not the run-rate pressure that we would have liked, but yeah, if we can knock off a couple early, get into the middle order, you never know what can happen,” he said.
Mitchell, who top-scored with 55 off 104 balls, said the batters were never entirely sure how high the ball would come through, making it difficult to settle into their innings. While New Zealand managed to scrape together a total, the right-hander conceded that they had hoped to put more runs on the board.
“It’s pretty challenging out there. Obviously, we’d always like a few more, but yeah, it’s like batting on a trampoline at times. We weren’t quite sure what height the ball was going to come through at. We scraped. We tried to do all we could and hopefully something special with the ball and you never know,” Mitchell told the broadcasters after New Zealand were bowled out.
He also highlighted the difficulty of finding gaps and keeping the scoreboard moving, particularly because of the nature of the drop-in surface, which made taking quick singles a challenge.
“All of us found it really hard to rotate the strike as well, and especially being, I guess, a drop-in with no pitches either side. It’s really hard, I guess, to drop and run and it just stops. So you add that to the bounce, sometimes, yeah, the only best option was to try and give it a hoe and see what happens,” he added.
Despite the challenging conditions, Mitchell said he tried to stick to his strengths and read the Indian bowlers' plans. However, New Zealand struggled to build partnerships, with wickets falling whenever the hosts appeared to be finding some momentum.
“Yeah, I guess just trying to stick to your strengths, and for me, it was when I kind of tried to get a read on what they were trying to do. I was trying to maximise that, but yeah, obviously we wanted to keep extending partnerships as well, and that was probably the challenge, because every time we felt like we got a partnership, we’d lost the wicket,” the all-rounder stated.
New Zealand's most productive partnership came between Mitchell and Mitchell Santner, who added 59 runs for the sixth wicket after the hosts were reduced to 53/5. Mitchell's resistance helped New Zealand cross the 130-run mark, but the hosts were unable to build on that recovery and finished with 134.
Despite the modest total, Mitchell remained hopeful of a turnaround with the ball. He believed early breakthroughs could put India under pressure and give New Zealand a chance to get back into the contest.
“Yeah, look, there’s plenty there, first and foremost. Obviously, there’s not the run-rate pressure that we would have liked, but yeah, if we can knock off a couple early, get into the middle order, you never know what can happen,” he said.
