MANCHESTER: New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson said M.S. Dhoni’s run-out effected by Martin Guptill was the big game-changing moment. “We all know the game is a fine line in a number of ways. But that run-out was significant,” he said.
“We’ve seen 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 in the game,” Williamson added.
Excerpts:
On the against-the-odds win: A brilliant fighting effort from our guys on what was another tough surface and sort of required that mentality and it was really important that we’re prepared to do that and stay in the game for a long time. We all know the class side that India are. At the halfway stage, we sort of wanted 240, 250 and we knew we would be competitive if we got that because the surface played the way it did.
On another big moment, the catch to dismiss Ravindra Jadeja: We did believe on that surface that we would get opportunities, especially when they were going hard. But the innings that Jadeja played, it was like he was playing on a different wicket. He timed the ball beautifully well. He was very clear in how he operated in that partnership with Dhoni, sort of swung things to parity, perhaps even them having the momentum going into the last few overs. They showed those fighting qualities that we expect from our team.
On the importance of entering second consecutive World Cup final: I don’t think it will help change the No. 1 sport (rugby) back home. I’m sure people back home are pretty excited and, you know, another great opportunity to play in a World Cup Final. But at the same time, we sort of just want to reflect on the good things we did in this match and the things we want to improve on and try and treat it in a similar respect so we go into that game and play our best cricket.
