New Zealand has always been a consistent team in all the major ICC events but unfortunately, they haven’t been able to cross the final hurdle. The Kiwis had topped Group 1 in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup but they could not bring their best against Pakistan in the all-important semi-final at the SCG on Wednesday.
The Blackcaps were outplayed by Pakistan in all three departments of the game and they just couldn’t bring their A-game when it mattered the most. Williamson admitted that they have played some good cricket in the major events but it’s been frustrating that they haven’t been able to go all the way.
New Zealand had lost the 2015 World Cup final, 2019 World Cup Cup final, 2021 T20 World Cup final, and now they ended on the wrong side of the result in the semi-final of the ongoing T20I showpiece.
Kane Williamson said as quoted by ICC, “I think we’ve played in a number of different finals and put out really good performances, probably good enough to win, and either got met by a side that’s played a little bit better or a side that’s played about equal, you know, however it looks.
“We fought hard and we showed some good characteristics that are important for our team and the attitude you want to see, but yeah, it wasn’t to be. That’s the frustrating part to me.”
New Zealand could only post an under-par score of 152 runs on the board after Williamson decided to bat first after winning the toss. Williamson admitted that it wasn’t enough on the surface after Pakistan won by seven wickets.
“The journey was good, a lot of good cricket, but as we know, you’ve got to continue to as you go into the business end, and today was certainly frustrating.
“Pakistan got off to a good start and put us under pressure and then were able to sort of wrestle back a little bit of momentum and build a couple of partnerships and then sort of fight our way to a score that we thought on that surface we could make a little bit difficult.”
It was a disappointing performance from New Zealand as they weren’t at their best. Pakistan will take on either England or India in the final on MCG on Sunday.
