New Zealand’s most experienced paceman Tim Southee believes that taking part in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 just before the ICC men’s T20 World Cup 2021 has been beneficial for all the Kiwi bowlers. The Black Caps bowlers were every impressive when they restricted Virat Kohli’s Team India to just 110 in their second match of the T20 World Cup on Sunday (October 31).
Kane Williamson’s side romped home to a comfortable eight-wicket win over India thanks to the superb effort of their bowling unit. The likes of Southee, Trent Boult and Mitchell Santner have all been part of different IPL 2021 sides.
“A number of guys from different teams in the World Cup have played in IPL this season. It definitely helped us as a bowling group, knowing the conditions and playing on the same surfaces before the T20 World Cup started,” Southee said during a virtual interaction ahead of New Zealand’s third match against Scotland on Wednesday (November 3).
Back in action! Find out about the influence Shane Bond has had on @AdamMilne19's career from his early days with the @CentralStags to his stint last summer with the @ThunderBBL. #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/YrL5w2X21k
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) November 1, 2021
New Zealand can become one of the rare teams to become champion in two ICC events after winning the inaugural World Test Championships earlier this year. But Southee said the Kiwis are not looking too far ahead.
“Whenever you turn up at an ICC event, the preparations don’t change. You can’t look too far ahead. We learnt from the mistakes we made in the defeat against Pakistan and managed to improve in game against India. We have a busy week ahead of us now with three games in the next five days,” Southee, who picked up 1/26 in the game against India, said.
The Kolkata Knight Riders paceman said that it was a great team effort by New Zealand to defeat Kohli’s side on Sunday. “It was a great team effort to defeat a strong Indian side. We are looking forward to playing the next three day games which is going to be a different challenge. I have played Scotland a couple of time but we have all seen that they are an improving and strong side,” Southee, who has 101 T20I wickets in 85 games, said.
