NZ ‘too nice’ to prompt revenge
The Twenty20 series opener tonight pits the Black Caps and India against each other for the first time since their World Cup semifinal last July – a nail-biter where Kane Williamson’s men prevailed.
India were denied a place in the final for the second time in a row as a result, but they won’t be out for revenge at Eden Park in Auckland and skipper Virat Kohli had quite the explanation as to why.
‘‘Honestly, even if you want to think of revenge, these guys are so nice, you can’t get into that zone,’’ he said. ‘‘We get along really well with all these guys and it’s all about just being competitive on the field.
‘‘As I said pre-match or postmatch [at the World Cup], I don’t know which one it was, they are probably the side that has set the right example for teams to play at the international level and how they should carry themselves.
‘‘They obviously want to bring the best that they can every ball of the game and their intent’s in their body language, but they’re not nasty and they’re not doing things which are not acceptable on the field.
‘‘They’re a quality side and we have a lot of respect for them and vice versa as well, I think they have a lot of respect for us.
‘‘We actually were happy for them when they qualified for the finals, because when you’ve lost you have to look at the larger picture and it meant a lot to them as well as a side.
‘‘I don’t think this is about any kind of revenge at all, I think it is just two quality sides playing good cricket. It’s a challenge for us to beat New Zealand here and something that we are totally up for.’’
The bulk of the Indian touring party only arrived in Auckland on Tuesday night, after the team completed a three-match ODI series against Australia in the early hours of Monday morning [NZ time].
Kohli claimed he was off to bed at the end of the mid-afternoon press conference on Thursday – a sign the short turnaround had left the tourists in a less-than-ideal state.
"It’s definitely getting closer and closer to landing at the stadium straight,’’ he joked to open proceedings.
‘‘That’s how compressed the gap has become. But I think with this kind of travel and coming to a place which is seven and a bit hours ahead of India time, it is always difficult to adjust to immediately, so I’m sure these things will be taken into consideration much more in the future.
‘‘It is what it is, you’ve just got to do the best you can to recover, get used to the timings, and just get on the park again.
‘‘That’s international cricket for you today, it’s just back to back.’’
India lost the opening match against Australia by 10 wickets, but bounced back to win the next two and the series, and Kohli was looking forward to turning his focus to the shorter format.
‘‘We’re looking forward to that, starting the T20s, because this is the year of the World Cup, so every T20’s important.’’