Kane Williamson, the captain of New Zealand, acknowledged that India had essentially batted the visitors out of the match in Mumbai after his team fell 70 runs short of a challenging 398.
With pleasant recollections from 2019, New Zealand entered the World Cup semifinal. After nine straight victories in the group stage, India, for their part, had high hopes as well. However, they batted with such explosive freedom that they set the record for the highest total by any side in an ODI knockout match.
“They really didn’t even give us a whiff,” Williamson remarked. “I guess if you bat first and score 400 runs, that’s a mark for you in the batting column. Then, you try to finish the job in the second half. And it was difficult there at first because the ball swung around a lot, so we had to put in a lot of effort. However, India deserves great credit for their performance and their position in the standings.
“It was going to be difficult at the halfway point with roughly 400 on the board, of course. However, bravo to the boys for their valiant attempt to stay in the game and, at the midway point of an inning, [to] kind of give ourselves some hope there and a chance. It’s a challenging game, and while losing in the elimination round is frustrating, the team is really proud of the work they have put in over the past seven weeks.
Due to injuries, Williamson was only able to participate in four of New Zealand’s ten tournament games. He was replaced at No. 3 by Rachin Ravindra, who had a breakthrough tournament with 578 runs at an average of 64.22. Daryl Mitchell continued to pile on the runs, finishing with 552 runs at 69. Despite obstacles due to injuries, the bowlers persevered and helped the team advance to the semifinals.
According to Williamson, “[There have been] some incredible contributions.” We really committed as a team to playing the style of cricket we wanted to play, and we did just that. Naturally, we ended up with Daryl Mitchell and Rachin, who were exceptional for the entire campaign. Bowlers together contributed a little bit here and there. They were incredibly proud of the fight they put forth, even if it was difficult for them at times. Even if things don’t completely go our way like they did today, we definitely want to express that when we play each game. In the end, it’s about progressing together, and [we] made some excellent strides in the right direction.”
