Cricket World Cup 2019: Kane Williamson lauds New Zealand's 'heart' in dramatic semi-final win over India
The Kiwis captain helped his team to a spectacular and unexpected victory over India to reach another World Cup final
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Your support makes all the difference.Kane Williamson has praised his New Zealand team for the “heart” they showed in their stunning World Cupsemi-final win over India at Old Trafford.
The Kiwis looked down and out at the beginning of their innings, but fought back through Williamson and Ross Taylor before rain stopped play on Tuesday.
And they bowled magnificently to prevent India from chasing down the required 240, dismissing Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul for just one run each.
New Zealand’s dramatic 18-run victory meant they reached a second successive World Cup final, and Williamson hailed the resilience of his teammates.
“It’s a different feeling to last time,” the Black Caps captain said. “We’ve had to skin it over the round robin, so it’s been quite different. A lot of heart has been shown by the guys so far but we’re keeping our feet on the ground. It was a great semi-final and we’re happy to be on the right side of it.
“It was really tough batting conditions [on Tuesday]. We had to assess conditions quickly, I think both sides thought it would be a higher scoring game.
“We spoke about getting 240-250 and we knew that would be competitive. There were a lot of contributions from everyone to get us to that total. The guys were clinical at the back end to get us to a competitive total, perhaps without going too hard and finishing up with 210-220.”
New Zealand’s win was made possible by the blistering start of their opening bowlers. India were left floundering at 5-3 with just a few overs played, and the key wickets of Rohit and Kohli had fallen.
“We spoke about the conditions during the interval. We wanted to put the ball in good areas and move the ball around and put some pressure on India,” Williamson added. “They are a world-class side.
“It was a great start from the bowlers. We needed to stay in the game for long periods. Being under so much pressure, to take the game to a stage where they could potentially win, with the way they were hitting it with Jadeja and Dhoni, the effort from our bowlers was outstanding.”
Few expected New Zealand to beat India, particularly after they posted what appeared to be little more than a respectable total with the bat. But Williamson insisted the tag of underdogs was not a concern.
“Being underdogs coming into the semis didn’t mean too much as long as we’ve played our best cricket,” he said. “All these sides have beaten each other, we knew on our day anything can happen. It was a game of small margins, and it was nice of the guys to fight the way they did.”
New Zealand will play the winner of tomorrow’s semi-final between England and Australia at Lord’s on Sunday.
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