Chennai (Tamil Nadu): New Zealand started their World Cup campaign in a remarkable manner as they registered two wins in two games against defending champions England and the Netherlands so far. Although both victories came courtesy of a clinical effort from the team, they missed the services of skipper Kane Williamson. New Zealand will now lock horns against Bangladesh in the next World Cup fixture on Friday and Williamson stated that adapting on Indian pitches will be a tough challenge.
"You go from venue to venue, and they do vary a lot, and we have seen here that there's been that spin, and the pitch has varied perhaps as the games moved on as well. But definitely, both teams have some good spin bowlers that no doubt will play a big part tomorrow," Williamson said in the pre-match press conference.
"Not just here in India, but any country when you play, certainly world events where there are multiple games on surfaces, in quite quick succession that you do see such a variety of surfaces that you have to try and adapt to as quickly as possible," he added.
Batter Rachin Ravindra has been prolific with the bat in the tournament for the side notching a couple of 50+ scores including a century against England. However, he has been average with the ball. But, the New Zealand all-rounder can be handy with the ball against Bangladesh as Chepauk.
"We still need to have a look at the surface in terms of the balance that we are looking at, which will then certainly affect the selection. But, Rachin has been a huge part of our side, and had some really significant contributions in the first two and will absolutely be involved." Williamson stated.
Reflecting on his recovery from the ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee, Williamson revealed that the team management went through a lot of data from injuries in other sports.
"A lot of data around it, mainly from other sports that were relied on and different strength numbers and heights and jumping and just heaps and heaps of different bits," he added.
"As for my recovery, it's been quite a journey, but largely a good one that's had some really good progress, and you know, I've said a number of times, really excited to be named in the World Cup squad, be sitting here now and really excited at the prospect of tomorrow, which is another big challenge for us," the New Zealand skipper said.
Williamson has gone through a long wait as he suffered the injury while playing for Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League 2023 and has not played cricket since then. The New Zealand captain was on the verge of missing the marquee tournament at one point. Reflecting on the situation, Williamson stated that he wasn't bothered by it and instead focused on his rehab to get fit for the tournament.
"It was probably a good thing just to get my head stuck into rehab each day and not sort of rush it, and that was really my focus, and I was fortunate as well. I had a really, really good team around me back home and was also fortunate not to have a lot of setbacks during that time," he concluded.
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