Monday, July 8, 2019

Anything can happen tomorrow, warns Williamson

MANCHESTER: Kane Williamson warned on Monday that his team was capable of producing the sort of upset result it needs to make it to the World Cup final.The New Zealand captain believes that his team will start afresh after losing its last three group matches – against Pakistan, Australia and England – in a row and that “anything can happen” in Tuesday’s semi-final against fancied India here at Old Trafford.Williamson was confident that his team was good enough to bring India down to earth.“It's one of those occasions where every team has worked so hard to end up in the last four where, to a certain extent, it all starts again where the day comes and anything can happen," Williamson told reporters.“All sides have beaten one another on a number of occasions throughout the last few years, so it is a really exciting opportunity for all teams.“I think for everybody it sort of starts fresh tomorrow after what was a very tough round-robin stage, and we were certainly expecting that it would be tough.“It's just a great occasion to be a part of. I know the guys are really excited by the opportunity to go out and try and try and play with that freedom that when we do gives us the best chance.”Williamson said that it was a special occasion to face Virat Kohli, 11 years after the two men skippered their teams against each other at the Under-19 World Cup.“I actually hadn't thought about that at all so I guess that's kind of cool, isn't it, that a few years later, we're here again, perhaps on a slightly different stage, but pretty special and a lot of respects to being able to lead your country out in a semifinal on the biggest stage.“He (Kohli) used to be an all-rounder I think back in the day, but hasn't bowled as much recently.“He was a formidable player, growing up -- that seems odd to say because we were at the same age playing against each other on a number of occasions and then to go into international cricket at a youngish age, then IPL and these different sorts of things."It's obviously been a pleasure watching Virat play and evolve into the superstar that he is.”Williamson knows that the early wickets of prolific opener Rohit Sharma and Kohli would be key to New Zealand’s hopes.“There's a lot of parts to (dismissing him) and as a bowling unit, first and foremost, it's assessing conditions. Rohit has been clearly the stand-out batter in this tournament so far and been batting beautifully.“But, as we know, we come into a semi-final. It is another day where both sides will be trying to adjust to the conditions as quickly as possible and both teams will be looking for early wickets regardless of what their name may be, but, without a doubt, he's been superb throughout the tournament,” Williamson said.

from The News International - Sports https://ift.tt/2YP8spf

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