Ferguson's spell from hell

Lockie Ferguson running in hard and pounding the pitch harder can spook batters. Just ask Imam-ul-Haq, who was floored by a rip-snorting bouncer in Abu Dhabi in 2018. Or Eoin Morgan, who fell on his backside during that World Cup final at Lord's in 2019. In his very first World Cup, Ferguson's rapid pace and bounce gave New Zealand's attack the cutting edge.

Four years on, Ferguson continues to intimidate batters with that pace and bounce. That he has managed to do so at Chepauk, which is usually a paradise for spinners, is extraordinary. It was almost like Neil Wagner in operation with one-day restrictions in place, as my colleague Karthik Krishnaswamy described it. With a square-ish gully, backward point, deep third and often two men patrolling the leg-side boundary, Ferguson unleashed a no-holds-barred short-ball assault on Bangladesh.

Forty-five of his 60 deliveries on Friday were either short or short of a good length, according to ESPNcricinfo's logs. Forty-five! Bangladesh weren't in control against 20 of those balls.

New Zealand had actually planned this and executed it to perfection. Friday's fixture was not played on the black-soil turner that was rolled out for the India vs Australia game. This was a mix of red and black with truer bounce. Yet, other teams might have had a temptation to pick an extra spinner at Chepauk. New Zealand are not other teams.

They benched legspinner Ish Sodhi once again though he had bagged a six-wicket haul against Bangladesh in Mirpur about six weeks ago. They trusted Ferguson to bounce batters out on an atypical Chepauk pitch. And he did bounce them out. He kept bouncing them out.

After the ball didn't swing - or seam - much in the early exchanges for both Trent Boult and Matt Henry, Kane Williamson tossed the hard, new ball to Ferguson. The fast bowler's first delivery to Tanzid Hasan was a lifter from over the wicket, which immediately pushed Tanzid onto the backfoot. Ferguson then switched to round the wicket and had the batter spooning a full ball to square leg. Shortly after, he rushed Mehidy Hasan Miraz into splicing a hook to long leg.

Nothing could throw Ferguson - and New Zealand - off their best-laid plans. Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh's best batters tried to counter Ferguson with ramps and hooks, but Ferguson kept hitting the middle of the Chepauk deck like he owned it. The ball after Shakib had flapped a hook for six, Ferguson let rip an even more brutal bouncer at the ribs and had him top-edging it to the keeper for 40 off 51 balls.

Working his way back from stiffness in the back, which had put him out of the World Cup opener against England in Ahmedabad, Ferguson put in a big shift in Chennai and set up a big win for New Zealand with his 3 for 49 in ten overs.

The Chennai crowd had turned up to watch their IPL Super Kings Devon Conway and Mitchell Santner - the DJ even introduced Conway as "Chennai's very own opener" - but they walked away with Ferguson's spell from hell.

"When it [the ball] was not swinging and on a fuller length, it actually looked pretty defendable," Ferguson said after his Player-of-the-Match performance. "So, we just tried to change things up - go short - and do what I do in the middle [overs]. I suppose it was different to the New Zealand conditions where you can sort of hit a good length and movement off the pitch.

"In India, it's a bit different, so we're trying to be a bit creative in the middle period. Obviously, we're just trying to take wickets and it's important here in India. I thought we did that as a group really well in the first three games. Once again, [I'm] just trying to find different ways to put the batters under pressure and hopefully get a wicket."

When Ferguson was out on the boundary, New Zealand trainer Chris Donaldson and reserve player Will Young kept ferrying drinks to him and helped him cope with Chennai's inhospitable heat.

"That's one of the hotter days of cricket I've had - that's for sure," Ferguson said. "Fortunately, have had some experience, which is nice, finding ways to get through it, but energy levels were fine. Once I start sweating, I can't stop. So just trying to stay dry, change the shirt and things like that."

Boult, the leader of New Zealand's attack, also delivered Ferguson a glowing appraisal. "Lockie plays a huge role for us and a guy that can bowl 150ks and has some great skills," he said at his post-match press conference. "It's nice to see him get some reward today. He's very clever with his plans and he likes to attack in the role that he's in. Hopefully he's going to play a big role for us over the next couple of weeks."

New Zealand went into the World Cup without the injured pair of Michael Bracewell and Adam Milne. Plus, there were questions around captain Williamson's fitness. They started the tournament without Ferguson against England, the defending champions. They are now the early pace-setters in the tournament, with three wins in as many games. #JustNewZealandthings