Kane Williamson laments on poor New Zealand performances in ODI series

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson was a picture of disappointment and gloom following his side’s loss in the recently concluded India v New Zealand series. Speaking in the post-match presser, Williamson stated his disappointment on not having won the series.

The final ODI at Vishakapatnam summed up what exactly went wrong with the Kiwis on the tour as they were cleaned out by the Indian bowlers for a paltry 79. However, in spite of this, there was no fight and determination was lacking as the Indians coasted to a win.

“It’s extremely disappointing,” Williamson said. “You know, after a tough Test series to bounce back and show the heart that was required, the fight that we needed to go two-all against a very good Indian side, was a superb effort. But it is hard to look past our last performance right now.

“The emotion of just finishing the game. We were disappointing. We want to be showing steps of improvement everyday. That’s what’s so frustrating, because we failed as a batting unit. Losing eight wickets for 20 or so runs…. the spinners of the Indian side bowled very well but I don’t think it justified 8 for 20. We need to look at some of our plans to cope with that at times. There was turn in some of the other games too but we were able to handle it better there. Today certainly was one of those days,” he lamented.

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The 26-year old went on to add that playing shots and getting out was part and parcel of the unbelievable routine. He also went on to add the importance of playing like Virat Kohli.

“I suppose it’s always nice to sit here after you’re dismissed to go ‘oh, it would’ve been nice to do something else.’ I think you always do that when you get out,”. the 26-year-old said. “It is a tough one to say at the time. You feel like it’s a good option to play that shot and if you get out, you question it. Here I am questioning it. For Ross and I to take it deeper, it would’ve been a lot better for our cause. Obviously, it wasn’t happening for us today. We both got dismissed when we needed at least one of us to hang in there and take the game deep.”

“I think if you look at any winning performance, there are one or two significant performances. If you look at the India side, there’s Virat (Kohli). I think pretty much every game he made a significant contributions to his side. Sometimes the conditions weren’t ideal to play on but someone has to step up and whoever that person is, we need a lot more. I think Tom Latham was outstanding. It was nice to see Guptill show that presence at the crease. We need to take those little good bits and look at someone like Virat, who I suppose… to get a 150 in that Mohali game was a hugely significant performance,”

Finally, Kane Williamson added the importance of taking the positives away from the encounter. “Overall, there were positives. Coming off a Test series and a long tour, the guys showed a lot of fight to get back into the series. There are a lot of lessons to be learnt in these conditions against a very good side. To get that kind of exposure is a fantastic experience. Unfortunately, sometimes the biggest, brightest lessons come from failures and defeats. I certainly we hope to learn from here.”

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