Wellington, Mar 3: New Zealand vice-captain Brendon McCullum, who is struggling with his fluency, is expected to reproduce his Twenty20 form in the one-day international format.

Better known as a dasher when facing the shiny white ball, McCullum’s problems in finding momentum in the early overs of the two Twenty20 matches were instrumental in New Zealand winning by seven and five wickets respectively.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori was delighted in his ability to plug away when apparently bogged down.

“There’s an expectation on Brendan that he has to be a million dollars every time he plays and I think sometime’s he’s lulled himself into that,” Stuff. co. nz quoted Vettori, as saying.

“He’s starting to realise that even when you’re not in form you can score runs and you can contribute.

“Brendan’s the first to acknowledge he hasn''t been hitting the balls as well as he would have liked but he''s still been getting the job done. He''s battling through it – and doing a fantastic job.”

McCullum had a subdued Chappell-Hadlee Trophy series by his standards last month, scoring 114 runs in five innings at 22.80.

However, his two recent half centuries against a challenging Indian attack should stand him in good stead for what is expected to be a close run series between the world No. 3 ODI team and the fourth.

Overall Vettori was optimistic New Zealand could preserve their impressive home form in the limited overs format – pointing to the development of an expansive and adaptable top four. (ANI)