T20 World Cup: Sachin Tendulkar explains how Williamson and Co. stopped India: Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar praised the Kiwis and their captain and also explained the “critical” point where Team India went wrong on Sunday against New Zealand in the ongoing T20 World Cup in a Facebook video.
New Zealand produced a stunning bowling display to beat India by eight wickets and get their campaign up and running.
T20 World Cup: Sachin Tendulkar highly impressed with Kane Williamson’s ‘top-notch’ captaincy against India
“From the ball one, the bowling changes of Williamson were top notch. The planning was good and in the first six overs we were 35/2 and from those 35 runs the 20 came in five overs,” said Tendulkar.
“After six overs till 10th over we only scored 13 runs, so according to me that was a critical point where we missed out on capitalising. Those easy singles were not available and that forced our batters to play the big shot,” he added.
T20 World Cup: Sachin Tendulkar highly impressed with Kane Williamson’s ‘top-notch’ captaincy against India
At 48 for four, India were in all sorts of trouble and while Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya consolidated, they did so at the expense of the scoring rate as India went 71 balls without a boundary.
“When Pant came into bat, immediately spinners end was changed by Williamson. Again a smart move. All in all, I felt India was playing a catching of game because how New Zealand dominated the game it was a tough time for India batsmen which forced them to play the big shot,” said the former Indian batsman.
T20 World Cup: Sachin Tendulkar highly impressed with Kane Williamson’s ‘top-notch’ captaincy against India
Tendulkar also praised batter Williamson and termed him a “rock” which has protected the Kiwis.
“Then Daryl Mitchell and Williamson stitched an important stand. Williamson is like a rock for the New Zealand team if he is on a wicket he controls the game well. Mitchell played some decent shots and rotated the strikes,” said Tendulkar.
T20 World Cup: Brendon McCullum heaps praise on New Zealand: Former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum also joined Tendulkar in praising Williamson and called him a super tactician.
McCullum praised skipper Kane Williamson for his captaincy against India and said the win has now put the New Zealand World Cup campaign back on track. “Professional performance full of planning and intent from the @BLACKCAPS v @BCCI today. World Cup campaign on track. Balanced bowling line up and superb tactically from the skipper,” McCullum tweeted.
