Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson, the centurion batters, obviously were key to New Zealand defeating South Africa in the Champions Trophy semifinals. But captain Mitchell Santner reckoned it was the pressure exerted by the Kiwi bowlers like Glenn Phillips and Rachin in the middle overs, chipping away with wickets that’s the key to the Black Caps success.
Speaking to Cric-Mate Voice after landing in Dubai on Thursday to take on India in the finals on Sunday, Santner said they employed the run-strangulation in the middle overs that broke South Africa. “It was a used wicket but we thought it might break up or spin a little bit more than it did. But it held together and still was a pretty good track. Was just trying to fire on good length and pitch perfectly. One spun, which was nice,” he offered of his own tactics against Rassie van der Dussen and Heinrich Klaasen.
The middle overs are key when New Zealand operate. “Partnerships were still there but we did a great job at the other end. When you throw the ball to GP (Glenn Phillips) and Chin (Rachin), there was kinda key wickets, to keep pressure on South Africa and chip away. We asked all bowlers to be aggressive. Even fast bowlers, short balls. Stuff like that. Keep being aggressive with the ball,” Santner explained adding how the invisible noose tightens in overs 11 to 40. “Trying to take wickets in the middle overs. That’s the toughest thing in one day cricket. If you can’t do that, teams get 500!” Santner said.
New Zealand have reached three ICC 50 over finals, losing two World Cups, one on boundary count, but they can be counted upon to never whinge and just go for it. “Finals cricket is different (for Rachin, O’Rourke),” Santner told Cric-Mate when asked about the first timers on Finals Sunday. “For us, whatever we’ve been doing to get to this point is good. We showed a lot of good stuff. The way we operate as a unit. Obviously we come up against a good side, who’ve played all their games in Dubai, know their surface. We’ll be better for the run we had against them the other day. It’s about keeping up with recent form. It’s just another game. It’s obviously not. But how you go about it, it’s just another game. Things we’ve been doing, we don’t need to change too much. The surface will dictate a little bit about how we operate. Might be a little slower than what we got in Lahore. But if it’s gonna be a scrap, we’ve done scrap,” he added.
He waved aside concerns of having to travel to and from Pakistan. “Travel is all part of the challenge – Dubai and Pakistan. The guys understand it’s a part of the game these days. As long as you are ready to go, the triseries before the event was handy to get guys in form. This tournament is quite short. Three games and you’re in semis. So we had a bit of a roll on. And hopefully we get there,” he told Cric-Mate Voice.
Ferrying and unloading their own baggage from the conveyor belt at the airport, the team posed for pictures with Indian fans, as was visible in the video.
He was impressed with his batting unit though, adding the whole unit had fired at different times, setting up a good final. “Kane and Rachin were special to watch. Both go about it differently. Kane just does his thing. I thought he played an extremely great knock. Together they made 6 runs an over look extremely easy. And then getting the ramps and scoops. The way they took down Maharaj who was a big threat in their side for sure. Rachin just played with freedom. That’s pretty cool to watch. Made our job as bowlers easy,” Santner told Cric-Mate.
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“SA bowled well at the start. (We) Kinda weathered the storm. Young, Kane and Rachin. From there they just showed great teeth throughout innings and took down the balls they thought they could. Soaked up some tough spells and then increased their run rate from 30th. From there they took us from 320 to 360 which was probably slightly above par,” he said.
Fielding to back up the bowlers was crucial. “A team like South Africa with the power they’ve got in their line up, we knew we weren’t safe. Knew we had to keep going well. Even 1 for 50 was still good in powerplay on that wicket and our spinners were able to tie them up a little bit. Keep chipping wickets away and back up in the field so great all round team performance. Different guys stepped up and firing at different times throughout the tournament,” he added.