Three years back in the day, when he was ignored from the New Zealand squad selected for that year’s 2021 T20 World Cup, Colin Munro had said in no uncertain terms that he was “gutted” at missing out from representing the side in the World Cup.
Moreover, he would add, that playing the T20 World Cup for New Zealand was a “definite goal of his”.
But that was then. Cut to 2024.
Just a couple of days earlier, when his name didn’t feature in the Kiwi squad selected for the soon-to-begin T20 World Cup, Colin Munro went a step further, it could be argued, than just expressing absolute disconsolation at missing out again.
He has instead hung his boots where it comes to representing New Zealand for national duties.
Sad? At loss of words? Confused? Just what might be the train of thoughts at this time?
Though the BlackCaps coach Gary Stead didn’t have a lot many things to share with regards to the Munro decision, he’d iterate the fact that while he was discussed at the selection table, there was just no room for the left handed Colin Munro.
While Munro’s decision may seem surprising to some and perhaps a touch expected to a lot many, it does leave space for a very valid question.
Despite playing franchise cricket for the past four years, was Colin Munro still not worthy enough for national consideration?
Regardless of how unfortunate it may feel now that he has himself drawn curtains on his international journey, what can’t- and perhaps mustn’t- be ignored is that Colin Munro had dedicated himself utterly to the shortest form of the game for nearly last half a decade.
After all, it was the format that truly captured the essence of the batsman who was adept at making the white ball disappear under both conditions- the clear blue as well the night skies.
What must be given due weightage when passing verdict over Munro’s T20 career- since we all happen to engage in a bit of it- is the sheer number of teams he represented in the format; Colin Munro played for nearly fifteen T20 sides, including those from the franchise cricket.
Having said that, its international duties for his New Zealand’s T20I team that truly catapulted Munro to global acclaim.
He burst onto the scene akin to his typically freewheeling T20 style of hitting back in 2017, a period of time where there was no Rishabh Pant or Nicholas Pooran, when cricket hadn’t heard of a Rinku Singh and when someone like David Warner and James Anderson were far from their twilight years in the game.
It might have taken him 30 innings to get to what was then his biggest moment in international cricket, but when he got there, Colin Munro ensured he made it count.
Hundred after hundreds
In the 2nd T20I of a captivating series where the BlackCaps hosted Bangladesh, Colin Munro blasted a bowling attack consisting of Mashrafe, Rubel and the great Shakib on his way to a brilliant 101. The fact that his maiden T20I ton came off just 54 odd deliveries consisting of seven fours and as many sixes was evidence that New Zealand had unearthed a big hitting giant at the international stage.
Though, the hundred scored at Bay Oval was widely spoken about, it really wasn’t a flash-in-the-pan moment for the tall batter.
Precisely three innings later, lest it is forgotten, Colin Munro unfurled another hundred and one of the highest class and distinction.
After a sudden string of low scores that yielded scores of back-to-back ducks, one each against Bangladesh and South Africa, followed by a paltry 7 against India, Colin Munro was back with the thuddings of the bat much to the chagrin of bowlers.
An unbeaten 109 against India at Saurashtra enabled New Zealand to draw level in the series where they had begun on a rather poor note.
Hitting it clean and through the line of the ball, Colin Munro, rather interestingly hit seven fours and as many sixes once again making light work of the likes of Siraj, Axar and Chahal.
To make sense of the impact of Munro’s heroics that enabled his Kiwis to claw back into the series, it’s important to note that the next best score in the side was Martin Guptill’s 45.
2017 ended on a bright note for Munro with the smashing batter scoring a vital 53 that came off just 37 odd deliveries; this time the West Indies facing the ire of the spanker.
However, the batsman was just getting started; the most productive year in T20I cricket for Munro was just around the corner.
Another huge year
Source- X/ Twitter
While most of us fans would still obsessively remember 2018 as the year where Virat Kohli was in great form and where England and the West Indies engaged in monster hits in the game’s classic ODI format, the year, truth be told held great significance for Munro.
Colin Munro began the year with a blistering 66 that came off just 23 deliveries in what was ultimately a wash-out game at Mount Maunganui. But what was worth noting was that long before the current IPL season began unfurling incredible 100-plus scores inside 9 overs, Colin Munro had shown it was possible half a decade ago thanks to some ostentatious hitting.
Kesrick Williams, Samuel Badree and Sheldon Cottrell all came faced the rampaging blade of Munro in that game. But the third match of the series unfurled a stampede for the vague West Indies.
An under appreciated feat?
It could be argued that even as on date, Colin Munro’s January 3, 2018 heroics haven’t quite received the distinction and applauds that they truly merit.
Firing 104 off just 53 odd deliveries, Munro nearly single handedly lifted New Zealand to an enormous, really enormous 243 for the loss of 5; the next best score was Guptill’s fifty. It was an innings that Gayle and Hetmyer, Brathwaite and Powell simply watched in admiration, partly stunned and partly clueless.
Three more fifties followed in 2018 later that year, by which time Colin Munro had become a hot selling internationally viable T20 entity. He would end the year with no fewer than 500 runs, scoring a little over a third of his T20I career runs in just one year and that too, from merely 12 outings with the bat.
Was he just as successful in one dayers?
Not that 2019 and 2020 were disappointing or a thing of obscurity from the bat, but Colin Munro, who had brilliantly settled into his role of the top order dasher in the post-Guptill and McCullum era, began to find stern competition from the likes of Mark Chapman and Glenn Phillips.
Munro was also tried in the one day arena starting from 2013 until 2019 after which he totally vanished from the limited overs’ arena, but the big returns as evident in the 20-20 format were missing.
A facet that’s of never a doubt
What must never doubted is that Colin Munro was one of the few noted international names that were responsible for furthering and broadening the appeal of T20 cricket; others being the likes of Evin Lewis, Kieron Pollard Andre Russell (and the likes) and without a speck of doubt, Virat Kohli and Mohd Rizwan who are still going strong.
But who knows, maybe with a sense of extended footwork, by sorting his game against spin and by improving the element of patience, something that’s arguably more evident in a Latham, Mitchell, and Conway, Munro’s international career could’ve developed long legs.
Striking strike rate
Even at the point of his retirement, Colin Munro, who whipped and glazed the on side with much aplomb, enjoys a one day strike rate of 104 (having scored north of 1200 runs) for New Zealand. Those kinds of numbers are hard to achieve and difficult to maintain.
That he was performing just as well in franchise cricket could be gauged from his exploits in The Hundred and the CPL, especially during the 2021 season.
Franchise cricket success
In that year, the Trinbago sensation went on to become the fifth-highest run-scorer of the series with 267 runs under his belt in 11 matches at an average of 29.66 and a strike rate of 101.13.
He had also scored 165 from 7 games at a strike rate north of 135 in The Hundred’s maiden season.
This is a career that, believe it or not, has nearly 11,000 T20 runs including plenty in franchise cricket
But as it appears, it’s hard for cricketers to become permanent fixtures for New Zealand’ cricket, not because they are not desired over a longer period of time but arguably because the team never keeps up with a sense of sameness allowing greater chance to new faces that can bring in the X-factor. Munro’s X-factor was, is, that he’s been simply fearless, whether against pace or spin.
His triumphs, few, but notable that they are must be appreciated and treated with a sense of greater respect than is otherwise awarded.
Won’t you agree?