Final – India v New Zealand – Sunday, March 9 – Dubai

[Moss]

Every team had Warne, Reiffel, Vaas, Dharmsena level batters in their tail. Playing with 7 proper batsmen was unusual back in the the day.

Yeah, having Mahanama at 7 was unprecented. And it did pay off in that semifinal, think he scored a half century and watching on TV you could clearly see how much it was turning and how tough chasing would be on that pitch.

 

[honestbharani]

Every team had Warne, Reiffel, Vaas, Dharmsena level batters in their tail. Playing with 7 proper batsmen was unusual back in the the day.

They didn't have 7 proper batsmen though. They just promoted their keeper to have a hack at the top and it came off. Kalu is really not the same level as Jayasuriya, Mahanama, Gurusingha, Aravinda, Arjuna or Hashan Tillakaratne.

 

[Sunil1z]

I won't lie & say I'm not disappointed. No matter the calibre of the opposition (& we're dealing with top class opposition), to keep making it this far & not go all the way is frustrating.

You also need luck to win ICC tournaments
1. Could have won 2019 WC without bat deflection from Stokes or Boult had taken Stokes catch
2. Could have won WT20 2021 if batted 2nd in the final.
NZ have been slightly unlucky in these tournaments.

 

[slowfinger]

You also need luck to win ICC tournaments
1. Could have won 2019 WC without bat deflection from Stokes or Boult had taken Stokes catch
2. Could have won WT20 2021 if batted 2nd in the final.
NZ have been slightly unlucky in these tournaments.

Could India have won the 2011 WC if Kamran Akmal didn't receive an undisclosed fee of £££ to drop sachin tendulkar 3 times on his way to 80-odd in the semi finals. You might be onto something here

 

[SteveNZ]

They were afraid of batting collapse

Yep, this is exactly what it was. Mitchell wasn't picking Kuldeep so he couldn't go hard at 75-3, which is why he scored 50 off 91 balls. In the end, 250 was a pretty fair effort against four genuine spin options, two of whom we couldn't pick.

India had to **** the bed to not win in Dubai with their spin options. And they didn't. I feel like we did a pretty reasonable job in staying with them as long as we did.

 

[Durham Fan]

Distances travelled:

New Zealand: 7048km
South Africa: 3286km
Pakistan: 3133km
Australia: 2509km
Bangladesh: 1953km
Afghanistan: 1028km
England: 1028km
India: 0km

 

[Moss]

You also need luck to win ICC tournaments
1. Could have won 2019 WC without bat deflection from Stokes or Boult had taken Stokes catch
2. Could have won WT20 2021 if batted 2nd in the final.
NZ have been slightly unlucky in these tournaments.

I think winning the toss in this game was a huge slice of luck, it more-or-less compensated for the loss of Henry. India batting first would have probably meant a comfortable win instead of a reasonably close game.

NZ's problem in these tournaments in my view, is that they absolutely refuse to play around with the formula. The set pattern of having not just a fixed XI but a fixed replacement for each player irrespective of opposition or ground lets them down IMO. May work fine for places like England where the conditions tend to suit the bowling especially, but you have to be prepared to tweak things if its India in Dubai. (eg. Thinking back to how new captain KW dropped both Southee and Boult and played 3 spinners vs India in that WCT20 game in Nagpur in 2016. That would be too radical for the current NZ setup)

 

[Sunil1z]

I think winning the toss in this game was a huge slice of luck, it more-or-less compensated for the loss of Henry. India batting first would have probably meant a comfortable win instead of a reasonably close game.

NZ's problem in these tournaments in my view, is that they absolutely refuse to play around with the formula. The set pattern of having not just a fixed XI but a fixed replacement for each player irrespective of opposition or ground lets them down IMO. May work fine for places like England where the conditions tend to suit the bowling especially, but you have to be prepared to tweak things if its India in Dubai. (eg. Thinking back to how new captain KW dropped both Southee and Boult and played 3 spinners vs India in that WCT20 game in Nagpur in 2016. That would be too radical for the current NZ setup)

Same mistake which India also made in 2023 final. If they didn’t trust Siraj, should have played Ashwin instead. But didn’t change the Team and bowled Siraj after 10 overs .

 

[Moss]

Same mistake which India also made in 2023 final. If they didn’t trust Siraj, should have played Ashwin instead. But didn’t change the Team and bowled Siraj after 10 overs .

Yeah I think the lesson was learned from that game, seeing the Dubai surfaces they wisely decided to stack the side with the spinners. (Obviously helps when there are so many good spinners to choose from)

 

[Nintendo]

NZ definitely could have been more flexible (sending mitchell in at 4 in both games vs india over latham a prime example) but they just don't have the flexibility that india do in these conditions. NZ have a ton of handy part timers + santner, while india can afford to play all of axar - Jadeja - Varun - Kuldeep because axar and Jadeja both can bat. I love santner, but jadeja probably starts ahead of him in this NZ side and he's arguably the worst spinner india have. If bumrah was fit india would be in a similiar situation in SENA aswell (obviously not AS flexible). They've just got a freakishly good white ball side at the moment. They've had a freakishly good white ball side for ages. Last 3 whiteball tournaments across formats they've lost one game and won two of the three (losing that home WC to travis head will probably always sting).

 

[Silver Silva]

NZ definitely could have been more flexible (sending mitchell in at 4 in both games vs india over latham a prime example) but they just don't have the flexibility that india do in these conditions. NZ have a ton of handy part timers + santner, while india can afford to play all of axar - Jadeja - Varun - Kuldeep because axar and Jadeja both can bat. I love santner, but jadeja probably starts ahead of him in this NZ side and he's arguably the worst spinner india have. If bumrah was fit india would be in a similiar situation in SENA aswell (obviously not AS flexible). They've just got a freakishly good white ball side at the moment. They've had a freakishly good white ball side for ages. Last 3 whiteball tournaments across formats they've lost one game and won two of the three (losing that home WC to travis head will probably always sting).

A movie/documentary needs to be made about Australia's WC win in 2023 , it was something written out of a Hollywood script ..

Australia decided to take an injured Travis Head to the WC , an ageing side that was written off by many at the start of the WC ..

The lows where Australia were comprehensively beaten by India and SA in the group stage , the Glenn Maxwell miracle , then Travis Head returning fully fit and playing clutch knocks in the knockout games . Magical

 

[Sunil1z]

They also looked very flat in 3rd game against SL when SL were like 150/1 in 25 overs . And then SL batting imploded

 

[jcas0167]

NZ definitely could have been more flexible (sending mitchell in at 4 in both games vs india over latham a prime example) but they just don't have the flexibility that india do in these conditions. NZ have a ton of handy part timers + santner, while india can afford to play all of axar - Jadeja - Varun - Kuldeep because axar and Jadeja both can bat. I love santner, but jadeja probably starts ahead of him in this NZ side and he's arguably the worst spinner india have. If bumrah was fit india would be in a similiar situation in SENA aswell (obviously not AS flexible). They've just got a freakishly good white ball side at the moment. They've had a freakishly good white ball side for ages. Last 3 whiteball tournaments across formats they've lost one game and won two of the three (losing that home WC to travis head will probably always sting).

If they had really wanted to push the boat out with the batting order they could also have promoted Bracewell (similar to the promotion of Harris against Australia in the 96 QF).

 

[NZTailender]

I think winning the toss in this game was a huge slice of luck, it more-or-less compensated for the loss of Henry. India batting first would have probably meant a comfortable win instead of a reasonably close game.

NZ's problem in these tournaments in my view, is that they absolutely refuse to play around with the formula. The set pattern of having not just a fixed XI but a fixed replacement for each player irrespective of opposition or ground lets them down IMO. May work fine for places like England where the conditions tend to suit the bowling especially, but you have to be prepared to tweak things if its India in Dubai. (eg. Thinking back to how new captain KW dropped both Southee and Boult and played 3 spinners vs India in that WCT20 game in Nagpur in 2016. That would be too radical for the current NZ setup)

the excel spreadsheet strikes again

 

[RMBolton]

A movie/documentary needs to be made about Australia's WC win in 2023 , it was something written out of a Hollywood script ..

Australia decided to take an injured Travis Head to the WC , an ageing side that was written off by many at the start of the WC ..

The lows where Australia were comprehensively beaten by India and SA in the group stage , the Glenn Maxwell miracle , then Travis Head returning fully fit and playing clutch knocks in the knockout games . Magical

Do the Amazon cameras for The Test only follow the Test team now? I'd have thought they would be there.

I think winning the toss in this game was a huge slice of luck, it more-or-less compensated for the loss of Henry. India batting first would have probably meant a comfortable win instead of a reasonably close game.



NZ's problem in these tournaments in my view, is that they absolutely refuse to play around with the formula. The set pattern of having not just a fixed XI but a fixed replacement for each player irrespective of opposition or ground lets them down IMO. May work fine for places like England where the conditions tend to suit the bowling especially, but you have to be prepared to tweak things if its India in Dubai. (eg. Thinking back to how new captain KW dropped both Southee and Boult and played 3 spinners vs India in that WCT20 game in Nagpur in 2016. That would be too radical for the current NZ setup)

Smells like Stead. He's always struck me as too by-the-book, & won't play around unless all the research has been done. That's an aspect I won't miss when he goes (let's be real, he's not getting renewed. He's just been around too long).

Anyone who comes after him needs to be more willing to be a bit flexible without going off the rails (this is partly why I'm not an advocate of McCullum being anywhere near the NZ setup).

 

[Silver Silva]

Stead is busy building a pretty impressive CV

WTC win
Test Series win in India
Finals in T20 , ODI WC and Champions Trophy

NZ's greatest coach ever

 

[Athlai]

Ew

 

[Sunil1z]

NZ should try to get Stephen Fleming as Coach/ Mentor for ICC tournaments. Guy has won multiple IPL with CSK . I am sure he knows how to win tournaments.

 

[cascade]

Do the Amazon cameras for The Test only follow the Test team now? I'd have thought they would be there.

They didn't end up choosing to cover it (or the 2023 BGT). Bit of a missed opportunity for Amazon seeing as how they now have all the ICC tournaments rights for Aus.

 

[ImpatientLime]

jeez, great optics here lol