The 26th match of the T20 World Cup has seen another exciting match between West Indies and New Zealand. Fans enjoyed the intense match but the Kiwis had their biggest heartbreak. New Zealand, known for their strong performances in ICC events, face the brink of elimination in the first round. They faced a 13-run defeat against West Indies. After the heartbreaking defeat, Kane Williamson reflected on this defeat.
The Good Start and Praising the Opponents:
The 26th match of the T20 World Cup has been seen a thrilling clash between West Indies and New Zealand, even after having a good start, the New Zealand squad struggled and faced a defeat. While bowling in the first innings, they secured some quick wickets and restricted the opponent to 149 runs. The target was easy to chase but the Kiwi batting lineup collapsed. They failed to reach the target and faced a 13-run defeat.
Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson talked about opponent’s performance and praised Rutherford’s brilliance. He said, “ It was good, we had an inkling it would be quite tricky if we hit an area and that proved to be the case. The quality of Sherfane’s innings was the difference, incredibly impressive and quite frustrating for us.”
Later he added, “The batting depth from their side was quite beneficial, we took the aggressive option to take the wicket and T20 is a game of small margins and unfortunately did not work out that way.”
On Santner’s Last Over:
The last two overs cost the match for New Zealand, Mitchell Santner came to bowl in the last over. That over turned out to be an expensive one. Santner gave 19 runs in that single over. That took the match far. The Caribbean batters used this situation wisely to set a fighting total.
While talking about this, Williamson said, “We know that and we have full trust in that, the guys did that well in the first 12 overs but as I said it’s small margins and two three balls in an over can go big and the score can be above par. You get the prep and do what you can. Conditions here are what they are and we can’t make excuses. We need to keep getting better and keep finding a way, 10-15 runs that can make a big difference.”
Aim to Bounce Back:
This loss hit hard to the New Zealand squad. They are almost out of the Super Eights stage. On June 15, they will face Uganda. That will be a crucial game for them. Even their qualification scenario is complicated, they need to try hard to win the match.
On that, Kane Williamson said, “We need to bounce back quickly, we are back in two days, we need to be smarter. The learnings are important and we need to pick ourselves up and go again.”
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