MANCHESTER: On Tuesday night, Kane Williamson & Co. may have gone to bed fearing the worst. Twenty-four hours later, they again dared to dream as they beat India by 18-run victory to advance to a second successive final. At the post-match press conference, the Kiwi skipper spoke on a number of issues including how their batsmen read the condition, the first 45 minutes of India’s chase, the thought process during Ravindra Jadeja’s late blitz among other things. Excerpts:
On reading the pitch
At the halfway stage, we sort of wanted 240-250. We knew we would be competitive if we got that because of the way the surface played. And the way we started with the ball was outstanding, it allowed us to kick things off perfectly. I thought the way the bowlers and the fielders operated was great.
Did they get any sleep?
I think the guys slept pretty well. Sort of we were focussing on what we needed to achieve in those last sort of four overs and at 211/5, we felt we were kind of there or thereabouts on target with what we wanted to try and achieve to be competitive on that surface. And it wasn’t the sort of wicket that it was 300, it was very much sort of mid-200s and we were aware of that. So it was trying to get to that 240, 250 stage against a formidable bowling attack in that of India.
Whether India lost in the first 45 minutes?
It’s very hard to know exactly... but naturally when you find yourself in that position it’s a great starting point from our perspective in terms of... getting ahead of the game because the rebuilding phase becomes a lot more tricky. So, it was a brilliant start for us with the ball and I guess on the other side of that coin, India wouldn’t have been as happy with that start. There were some good deliveries. Sometimes they take the edge and sometimes they don’t. They did for us today.
The Dhoni run-out
That run-out was significant. We’ve seen (MS) Dhoni finish games from those similar positions on a number of occasions. It was a tough surface so nothing promised but naturally to dismiss Dhoni in whatever fashion is extremely important, but for a direct hit run-out very, very similar to Jadeja’s I think was a big moment.