The first T20I of the ongoing three-match series between New Zealand and India was supposed to take place at Sky Stadium in Wellington on Friday, but eventually got called off due to persistent rain.
The action will now move on to Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, where both teams will meet in the second T20I. Ahead of the upcoming fixture, both captains Kane Williamson and Hardik Pandya were quizzed if they look at the contest as a possible third-place decider for the T20 World Cup.
Notably, India and New Zealand were knocked out of the recently-concluded mega event in their semi-final clashes against England and Pakistan, respectively.
Responding to the question, Hardik said they have left behind whatever happened in the T20 World Cup and are looking forward to this series against the Black Caps.
“The World Cup is done, I’ve left it behind. The disappointment will be there, but we can’t go back and change things. We’re now looking forward to this series,” said Hardik in the presentation after the first T20I match was washed out in Wellington.
While Hardik remained formal in his answer, Williamson, on the other hand, displayed his sense of humour with a cheeky reply. He smiled and said, “I don’t believe so. It wouldn’t have been a very nice game to play, I thought so. Hardik, what do you reckon?”
Both the captions then burst into laughter before Williamson continued stating, “We’ll start fresh, this is a new series both sides are looking forward to. We both wanted to get to the final, but we’ve got a week to rest and get ourselves ready for this.”
Amid the absence of some senior players, Hardik also heaped praises on youngsters, mentioning they have ample experience of playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) to face any challenge in international cricket.
“These guys are young by age but not by experience. They have played plenty of IPL and got a good amount of Internationals as well. I think the youngsters of today don’t get intimidated by not having played too much cricket,” Hardik added.
Here is the video:
— The Game Changer (@TheGame_26) November 18, 2022
