New Zealand captain Kane Williamson says after the defeat against West Indies that one or two overs can make a difference on a tricky pitch which was the reason in the match also.

West Indies beat New Zealand by 13 runs on Thursday (13th June) to reach the Super-Eight of ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024. Sherfane Rutherford's swashbuckling 68* off only 39 balls helped West Indies post 149 on the board after being reeling at 58-6. In reply, Alzarri Joseph and Gudakesh Motie ripped through Kiwi batting lineup to hand West Indies a brilliant 13-run victory.

New Zealand opted for aggressive options in bowling as Williamson finished all the main bowlers’ overs within 18 overs. And that’s when the main destruction happened. West Indies were at 112/9 after 18 over. But Rutherford took 37 runs in the last 2 overs of Daryl Mitchell and Mitchell Santner which gave West Indies a real fighting score of 149 runs.

“It was good. We had an inkling that it was going to be tricky if you hit an area, and that proved to be the case. On these surfaces, you have to find a way and an over or two can be the difference. The quality of Sherfane's innings was high. The batting depth in their side was beneficial for sure. We knew there were going to be some tough overs there. We tried to take the aggressive option to take wickets,” Williamson said.

Williamson also talks about the reason behind giving left-arm spinner Santner the last over against the left-handed batter Rutherford. “We know that and we have full trust in that. We saw how tricky it was when you hit the wicket and we were certainly trying to execute as well as we could. The margins are small, 2-3 balls here and there, and the score can get up high,” Williamson added.

New Zealand have lost both the matches they played till now in the T20 World Cup and are on the verge of eliminating from the tournament.