Wellington [New Zealand], Dec.23 : New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Luke Ronchi has backed the national selectors' decision to drop him for the recently-concluded Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series, saying his omission was `something that needed to happen` given his poor form in the previous series.
The 35-year-old's comments came after he was recalled in the ODI squad for the upcoming three-match series against Bangladesh beginning at the Hagley Oval on Boxing Day.
"I'd had an extended run with the team and didn't do as well as I should have been doing. I was fine with the whole situation. I understood. It's cricket and you can only play 11 people and if there's people doing better, they deserve to play," ESPNcricinfo quoted Ronchi, as saying.
Ronchi said he was not at all bothered by his omission as he was not performing well enough to be given games all the time.
"It [getting dropped] was something that needed to happen. It didn't bother me. I needed to be out of the team. You have to perform and if you're not performing, then you can't expect to be given games all the time," the New Zealand batsman said.
Ronchi's exclusion from the Australian series came after a prolonged run of modest returns. The wicketkeeper-batsman has managed just 254 runs in 34 ODIs at an average of 10.58 since February 2015.
On the recent tour of India, he notched up just seven runs in three ODIs he played for New Zealand. However, Ronchi has found some form since his exclusion, having scored a century for Wellington in the Plunket Shield match; and was also among the top run-getters in the ongoing Super Smash T20 tournament with 165 runs in five matches at a strike rate of 166.66.
"I hadn't been making the runs [for New Zealand] so you just have to go back and get some confidence again playing for Wellington.
That's been going well, so hopefully I can bring that back into this team,"he insisted. Talking about the upcoming series against Bangladesh, Ronchi admitted that he has to try to employ a more restrained approach against the opposition.
"I have to give myself more time to get in, that's what I've been doing recently. I just need to realise you've got longer than what you think. And not try and do quite so much, even if it's five balls I don't need to get 30 runs off five balls," he said.
Source: ANI
