Though rain played spoilsport in the third and final ODI between India and New Zealand at Christchurch, skipper Kane Williamson lauded all-rounder Daryl Mitchell for his fantastic spell of 3/25 which was instrumental in bowling out visitors’ for 219.
“The seamers were getting something from the wicket. Daryl has been hanging out for a bowl for ages. He did a fantastic job bowling with the wind. (Adam) Milne (3/57) felt a niggle but didn’t want to stop,” said Williamson in the post-match presentation ceremony.
With the white-ball series being massively affected by rain, Williamson admitted that rain had been following them all the time. “It’s been going on reasonably well. The first game became series-defining. A little bit odd to have so much rain. We knew that 20 overs would constitute a match, but we could see the weather coming, it has been following us.”
New Zealand will now have a break before touring to Pakistan for two Tests and three ODIs from December 2022 to January 2023. “The focus shifts to the Test arena (for the Pakistan series). There’s a freshness to that, new faces.”
“Guys get a break now and that’s important too. Been pretty busy. But it’ll be good to have time off. We will regroup as a Test team after the break,” added Williamson.
Left-handed wicketkeeper-batter Tom Latham was named Player of the Series and was in praise of how his team-mates fared in Christchurch. “It was a nice series for the whole group and personally as well. Bit of a shame I didn’t get any play in the next two games. We bowled fantastically well this morning. ”
“Finn played uncharacteristic in terms of his usual aggressive way. The ball was moving around and it did enough out of the right lengths. Hit the right lengths and got some movement off the surface and restricted them to that total. Mitchell did a fantastic job too.”
Latham signed off by saying there was friendly banter amongst players from both teams during rain interruptions. “Lot of the guys have played each other, especially the IPL so there is some friendly banter. Certainly not cold for us but very cold for them (smiles).”
