New Zealand's do-it-all man Glenn Phillips shows he can play the waiting game

Glenn Phillips is a man of many hats. He played both hockey and football at school before becoming a professional cricketer. He is also into archery, hiking, surfing and mountain-biking. He even has a flight simulator back home and dreams of becoming a commercial pilot after he finishes his sporting career.

Phillips is also New Zealand's do-it-all man on the cricketing field. He has opened the batting alongside Rachin Ravindra in Under-19 cricket. He can tee off from the get-go in the middle order. He can finish an innings. He can also keep wicket, though a back condition has somewhat restricted that skill. His outfielding skills need no introduction. He can also bowl quickish offspin. He is also an innovator.

All of these skills have made Phillips a sought-after package in T20 cricket. But there were some questions around Phillips' ability to build - or rebuild - an ODI innings, despite his unbeaten 63 against Pakistan in Karachi in January earlier this year. Those questions resurfaced after New Zealand had slumped to 110 for 4 against Afghanistan on a tricky, two-paced Chepauk pitch.

Azmatullah Omarzai was getting the ball to skid and zip off the surface. Rashid Khan was doing his thing. Mujeeb Ur Rahman was also turning the ball both ways. At one point, New Zealand went 64 (legal) balls without a boundary. Phillips absorbed all of that pressure along with his captain Tom Latham in a 144-run fifth-wicket partnership, acing yet another role for New Zealand.

When Omarzai found late inward movement, Phillips accounted for it and shelved his big shots. He was prepared to wait for the loose ball in a passage of play that was straight out of the '90s. His footwork was also decisive against the spinners: he was either right forward or right back. Phillips needed 69 balls for his half-century - his slowest in List A cricket. But this was arguably the most vital among his six List A fifties.

While Phillips' batting against spin is largely untested in international cricket, he has excelled on Chepauk-style turners at the CPL after having worked closely with Ramnaresh Sarwan during a stint at Jamaica Tallawahs. Regular trips to the Caribbean helped him understand his game against spin better.

"It's [about] understanding where my strengths and weaknesses lie," Phillips said after winning the Player-of-the-Match award. "I guess the way a lot of boys play over here - sweeping really well and reverse-sweeping really well - but unfortunately I don't have that quite in my game plan or to the level I'd be happy to use it consistently in a match.

"So for me it's about sticking to my strengths: play from the crease and I do have power. So I can wait for the guys to miss [their line or length] a little bit more. But also the beauty of batting at No. 6 means that you have the opportunity to soak pressure or mount pressure [on the opposition] depending on the time you come in. So, [it's] about being able to flip between the two depending on what the team needs."

After having seen off the spin trio of Rashid, Mujeeb and Mohammad Nabi, Phillips found a favourable match-up against his IPL team-mate Fazalhaq Farooqi and swatted him for two imposing leg-side sixes in the 45th over. One of those was off a blameless slower ball into the pitch.

"At that point of time, our game plan was we had wickets in hand, with six overs to go," Phillips explained. "For us, it's the perfect time for us [Phillips and Latham] to both launch. I've faced a lot of Farooqi in the [Sunrisers Hyderabad] nets albeit with the new ball most of the times. But I do know he's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve and he's a really talented bowler. So to be able to get those two away off him, and to have a big over to start our launch, that was really crucial to get to 289 [288] as opposed to 260."

Phillips wasn't done just yet. With the ball, he operated from around the wicket and bowled darts, denying the Afghanistan batters access to the shorter boundary. He then fronted up to the media, grinning from ear to ear.

There's nothing that Phillips can't do.