With the day dominated by a controversy over a used pitch being provided for the semifinal of the Men’s ODI World Cup 2023, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson admitted that it was a pretty good surface really as the Black Caps crashed out to hosts India on Wednesday.
News report had claimed that the BCCI got the pitch swapped from a fresh one earmarked for the final to one on which two matches were already played, to assist their spinners.
In the end, it was a dry and slow pitch on which three batters — Virat Kohli (117), Shreyas Iyer (105) of India and Daryl Mitchell (134) of New Zealand — struck centuries and Mohammed Shami of India claimed a seven-wicket haul (7-57).
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Williamson admitted it was a good pitch despite being used earlier in the match.
“Yeah, it was a used wicket, but a pretty good surface really, as we saw. I mean, they got plenty out of it in the first half of the match. And conditions, I guess they change as they go under lights and things, and that’s what we’ve seen throughout this competition. That’s fine, that’s what you expect and they played really well,” he said in the post-match press conference on Wednesday.
Williamson said though it was disappointing to lose the semifinal, he was proud of his team as it fought well throughout the seven-week event.