New Zealand have a knack of cracking the code when it comes to qualifying for the knockout rounds of ICC tournaments, and the just-concluded Champions Trophy was no different, where they made it to the final but lost to India at the last hurdle.
However, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting didn’t pick New Zealand as one of his four semifinalists before the start of the Champions Trophy. But they proved him wrong, which is why the batting legend has no doubt that it won’t be long before the Kiwis taste title-winning success in a white-ball ICC tournament.
The BlackCaps last won a white-ball ICC title in 2000, when they clinched the Champions Trophy.
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“I was asked at the start of the tournament who I thought the final four would be, and as soon as you start talking about top fours for ICC events, you just have to put New Zealand in it, because they just always do it,” said Ponting in the latest The ICC Review.
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Ponting said that the reason he did not pick New Zealand in his top four was because he was confident that Pakistan would do well on home soil.
“I didn’t do it this time because I thought Pakistan would make it, being at home; and I thought South Africa would make it. So I didn’t have New Zealand there and sure enough there they are again,” he said. “And what a dominant performance it was against South Africa in their semi-final to make it through to the final.”
The Kiwis defeated South Africa by 50 runs in the second semifinal after putting up a mammoth 362 for 5 on the board at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.
“You probably can’t play a better game of one-day cricket than that. To bat first and make 360-odd, I think it’s the highest total ever in a Champions Trophy game,” said Ponting.
But they faced a dominant, unbeaten Indian side in the final, who went on to beat the Kiwis for the second time in the tournament.
India had won the group-stage game against New Zealand by 44 runs and defeated them in the final by four wickets.
“They just came up against a really good team in the final, and they weren’t far away. India won in the 49th or 50th over. They haven’t done a lot wrong,” Ponting added.
“And that’s without some of their stars actually performing in that final. And that’s without Matt Henry being fit in that final as well, who was their leading wicket-taker going into it. So they’ve had a great campaign. And if they keep putting themselves there, it’s only a matter of time before they will (win an ICC white-ball tournament).”
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