Not a desired start for Kane Williamson and Co. Their journey for the T20 World Cup 2024 with a big defeat. After an average bowling performance, New Zealand’s batting order struggled in the second innings. As a result of it, they faced a defeat of 84 runs against Afghanistan. After the heartbreaking defeat, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson talked about the game.
Praising the Opponent:
While batting in the first innings, Afghanistan scored 159/6. But in the second innings, they dominated the Kiwis and clinched the victory. Rashid Khan and Fazalhaq Farooqi set to stage on fire. Both clinched 4 wickets each. With that exceptional bowling performance, Rashid Khan registered the best bowling figure by a captain in the T20 World Cup. Mohammad Nabi secured two wickets. They totally outplayed New Zealand and registered the second victory.
After facing the defeat, Kane Williamson praised the Afghanistan side and said, “Yeah, first congrats to AFG, they simply outplayed us in all facets. To get to that total on that surface, they kept their wickets and made a good score. We’ll have to put this behind quickly and get back to our next challenge. “
On the Preparation:
Before stepping into the T20 World Cup, the teams played some warm-up matches to prepare well. But there was an exception for New Zealand. Because of some logistical issues, they arrived late in the tournament and didn’t have enough time for the warm-up games. They straightway played against Afghanistan.
While talking about this, Williamson also admitted their fielding mistakes. He said, “The boys did work hard in preparations for this match, but it was hard and we need to move on quickly. Games come thick and fast in this tournament. 160 was a tough chase, but we needed partnerships, the skills they had made it difficult for us. Our fielding was a let down, particularly in the first 10 overs, we had our chances and we didn’t use them.”
The Next Goal:
The start was not memorable for the New Zealand side. This was the first game for them in this tournament. They will face West Indies in their next match on June 13. While talking about the next goal, he said, “We need to take a step in the right direction, we know we are better than this, we’ll have to go away and give ourselves the best chance going into the next match.”
Later he added, “We didn’t take our opportunities and it goes a long way in changing the outcome of the match. Once they had a score, their bowlers executed their skills well. We’ll have a talk about this and then look to come back well in the next match.”
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