Melbourne: New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson is unperturbed by his side not being touted as the favourites before every global event, saying that he doesn’t have a choice on what people think of them and wants to focus on the cricket ahead of the Men’s T20 World Cup.
New Zealand boast of a formidable record at ICC events. They have been runners-up in the last two ICC Men’s ODI World Cup finals, finished runners-up in the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and won the inaugural World Test Championship in England last year. Yet, fans aren’t seeing Williamson & Co. as the favourites to win T20 World Cup trophy in Australia.
“I mean, we don’t really have a choice in what people call us, but for us we came here and try and focus on the cricket that we want to play and address what’s in front of us. We had a pretty memorable World Cup a few months back and played these guys in the final. It was a great game of cricket, and these sorts of tournaments are always pretty special to be a part of.
“Everybody has different tags and rankings that go up and down throughout the year, and I suppose they end up with different names. But you come here in tournament sport on any day, anything can happen, especially looking across all these teams with match winners throughout,” said Williamson during the captains’ day event in Melbourne.
In the run-up to the T20 World Cup, New Zealand had to deal with injuries, like a fractured hand to all-rounder Daryl Mitchell and tearaway fast bowler Lockie Ferguson suffering an abdominal injury during the recent tri-series.
Asked about an update on the two, Williamson said, “Lockie is tracking quite well. Daryl is sort of a day-by-day case, so he’ll start hitting fairly soon. A few little niggles in the camp, but hopefully the timing is on our side and they can be fit and ready.”
New Zealand will travel to Brisbane to play warm-up matches against South Africa and India before opening their T20 World Cup Super 12 campaign against defending champions and hosts Australia in a re-match of 2021 final at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on October 22.
–IANS
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