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Exclusive: New Zealand has become the team of the tournament this T20 World Cup. Here's why

These Kiwis play for each other, and they die for each other. You can see that from their eagerness to win, writes Farokh Engineer

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Photo: AFP

By Farokh Engineer

Published: Tue 1 Nov 2022, 6:51 AM

When the T20 World Cup started in Australia, almost every pundit that was asked to name the four favourite teams for the title, missed out on New Zealand.

I won't blame them because New Zealand don't have the superstars like India, Australia and England.

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But they always find a way to be super competitive in the biggest tournaments. Look at their record at the ICC tournaments in the last 10 years, it's fantastic.

So, what makes this small rugby-mad country of five million people such a force in cricket?

I think their biggest strength is their team spirit. If any team plays as a team, it's New Zealand. These Kiwis play for each other, and they die for each other. You can see that from their fielding, from the eagerness to win. It's a quality that I can't stop admiring.

This is why they are the team of the tournament so far in Australia and they will go into Tuesday clash with England as the slight favourites.

In my playing days, I enjoyed touring New Zealand as a country. I have always loved the people, loved the climate, they are much gentler than the average Australians who are a bit brash.

And New Zealand is a country that everybody wants to see them win because they are so sporting.

After they lost the 2019 World Cup final to England at Lord's in a dramatic and heartbreaking super-over finish, not one complaint was made about the four extras England got after a throw had hit Ben Stokes' bat and raced to the boundary.

I was truly amazed with that. The sporting gesture of the New Zealand public is second to none.

If you see a catch which is not clean, a New Zealand cricketer would be the first to point out that he hasn't taken it cleanly whereas a player from another team might claim the catch.

So these are the things that you really admire about New Zealand cricketers.

Don't forget New Zealand have also produced some fabulous players. Richard Hadlee was an absolute legend as a fast bowler, Glenn Turner was a very good opening batsman. John Wright was a good player.

And Martin Crowe, how sad that he is not with us anymore. What a great player he was!

Coming back to New Zealand's game against England in Brisbane on Tuesday, the spinners will relish the surface. We saw in the game between Australia and Ireland at the Gabba that the ball was stopping a little bit.

It is bound to help the Kiwi spinners, Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner. They are very good spinners. England also have Adil Rashid, a top-class leg-spinner.

But England need Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes to fire. They still have got some very good stroke players like Alex Hales and Liam Livingstone, these players can hit the ball hard.

But will New Zealand allow them to hit those big shots? Well, we will have to wait and watch.

All in all, it's going to be a very close encounter between the two teams. But New Zealand have two terrific new-ball bowlers in Trent Boult and Tim Southee.

They are not the quickest bowlers in the world, but they swing the ball.

Boult swings the ball both ways. He is a very, very intelligent bowler. He probably won't allow Buttler to cut loose. So if he gets Buttler early, it will be a big advantage for New Zealand.

Farokh Engineer is a former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman

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Farokh Engineer

Published: Tue 1 Nov 2022, 6:51 AM

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