MUMBAI: The press conference room at the Wankhede Stadium was packed on a hot and humid Tuesday afternoon. New Zealand captain Kane Williamson saunters in seemingly oblivious of the fact that two stern tests await him. First one of course is during the media interaction in the afternoon where he would be reminded of New Zealand's tales of near misses in ICC top events, and the next one will be on Wednesday when his team takes on India in the most important match of their lives.
The first question fired: “Welcome to Mumbai just going back in history about the 29th of May 1953 about 70 years back…” and Williamson interrupts nonchalantly, “Yeah, I remember that”, as the entire room erupts into laughter. When he walks on to the field on Thursday, it will be his fifth ICC World Cup semifinal across formats as captain. Yet, here was Williamson, less than 24 hours away from what is the most important match they have played so far, turning a serious question about scaling the highest peak in the world into some kind of a joke. And of course, New Zealand would be wary of the highest peak in cricket they are trying to climb.
In fact, it pretty much sums up New Zealand’s campaign so far. They kicked off the tournament with four consecutive wins before being in a position where they almost missed out on the semifinals. They had a injury list when put together could be longer than the playing XI. From there on, they pulled back to enter their fifth consecutive ODI World Cup semifinal. The tags like ‘underdogs’ and ‘dark horses’ that are often linked with New Zealand in the lead up to global events usually seem out of place.
Considering a country with a population that is a quarter of Mumbai and with just six premier domestic teams where cricket plays second fiddle to their national passion rugby, one must confess New Zealand have been among the most consistent teams at ICC events. In the last four years, they have played two white-ball World Cup finals, one semifinal and have won an ICC World Test Championship title. Ask Lockie Ferguson what makes them tick at World Cups, he doesn’t have a straight specific answer. “I’d love to know” he laughs. “When we start the competition, much like every other team we're here to win it, but of course we know there's a process and I think certainly within our team we've played a lot of cricket together for a long period of time, so we sort of stick to our processes and I know it sounds cliche, but I think it keeps us sort of level-headed and naturally as Kiwis we tend to stay where our feet are, which I think is a positive,” he adds.
'Tend to stay where our feet are' is what stands out. And this comes from one of the most colourful individuals who is filled with life and flair in the New Zealand dressing room. So, it comes as no surprise when Williamson plays down what has been an incredibly tough eight months for him personally. After the injury he suffered at the start of the Indian Premier League, it seemed like he was not going to make it the World Cup. But he did. And then, he is back on the field for his very first game of the tournament only to get hit by a throw and fracture his thumb. But New Zealand Cricket knows he will come back again and they know that the team will need him in the business end of the tournament.
They kept him with the team, and he made a come back, again. Williamson calls it “an interesting journey” before expressing his gratitude to be in a position to lead the team in another semifinal. He did make sure that people knew the thumbs fracture was not funny even when he was explaining it with a laugh. “It was quite frustrating and testing but still feeling that it hadn't ruled me out so I still was grateful for that and it's nice to be fitter than perhaps I was yesterday and be sitting here,” he said.
This unassuming personality, that takes a step back every time he faces a ball or sets the field during the game, is the essence and spirit of this Black Caps team. They would be the friendliest people when you talk to them, but you would not want to be on the other end off the 22 yards against them. Out there, they give it all. Weeks ago when they played India in Dharamsala, there were questions about the outfield and even India captain Rohit Sharma were gesturing players not to dive.
New Zealand, however, were having a ball. They were throwing themselves around to stop the ball, and saved at least 20-30 runs, making it all the more harder for India. "We’ve got standards within our Black Caps that you come and do everything you can to help us win games of cricket and part of that is diving on the boundary and stopping the ball when you get the chance and that's something we're proud of ourselves as Black Caps and we'll continue to do it no matter where we play in the world," Daryl Mitchell said.
Expect nothing less when Williamson leads them on to the field in front of a sea of blue on Wednesday. They are going to push India’s limits, give everything they could and put on a spectacle. For that is what the Black Caps are. They will not go down without a fight.