What is it that New Zealand do which make them qualify for the business end of every ICC 50 over format almost every season? They were runners up in the last two tournaments, and in fact came very close to beating England four years ago, but destiny had its own reasons for making them so close yet so far.
One of the main reasons for Kiwis to do well in ICC 50 over tournament has always been their captains; be it Stephen Flemming, Brendon MccCullum and Kane Williamson who have led their team from the front and the rest have backed their captain. All the players in the team go about doing their job silently and are hardly noticed or under the radar of the opposition and surprise big teams when it matters. Since the inception, New Zealand have quietly made it to the semifinals in 1975, 1979, 1992, 1999, 2007 and 2011.
The 15th edition of the World Cup starts on October 5 and when you look at their side, fans might say they won't succeed in Indian conditions as they are not spin heavy but, mind you, they made it to the semifinals in 2011 where they lost a very close semifinals to Sri Lanka, the host. Every new venue brings new conditions, but this is what makes New Zealand better is that they read the conditions better than other teams and adapt faster than other opponents. In 2019, they stunned India in the semifinals at Manchester where India were outright favourites but Matt Henry, Trent Boult and Michtell Santner shined as the Kiwis made it to the final.
Similarly in the semifinals in 2015 at Auckland, they were against a solid team like South Africa who had the likes of Ab de Villiers, Faf Du Plessis, Dale Steyn and Imran Taher who was in red hot form. This time, it was Grant Elliot's epic 84 of 73 balls which brought tears in the eyes of Morne Morkel and Ab de Villiers.
This year again they have started well in the warm-up game against Pakistan chasing down almost 350 with ease. New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, who in spite of coming back from an injury, scored a fluent half century and Rachin Ravindra scored 97 to beat Pakistan. In their
batting they have the consistent Devon Conway, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Champan to support Kane Williamson. Their bowling is led by Trent Boult, who has made it a habit of picking wickets in his first over, and well supported by Tim Southee. In the spin department, they have Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi who would be handy in Indian conditions. So don’t be surprised if New Zealand make it to yet another semifinal, as long as they don’t bump into India.
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