"Nothing But Admiration": Cricketers, Past And Present, Hail New Zealand On Reaching T20 World Cup Final
NDTV
Many current and former cricketers took to Twitter to praise New Zealand after the Blackcaps beat England to reach the T20 World Cup final.
Kane Williamson-led New Zealand became the first team to reach the final of the ongoing T20 World Cup on Wednesday after winning a close game against England in Abu Dhabi. In the chase of 167 runs, the Blackcaps were reduced to 107/4 in the 16th over but opener Daryl Mitchell stood tall against the English bowlers. Mitchell added a quickfire 40 runs with Jimmy Neesham for the fifth wicket and remained not out till the end with his impressive 72-run knock. After this victory, many former and current cricketers, including the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akthar, veteran India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, former India opener Virender Sehwag, and many more have praised New Zealand for the way they played in ICC tournaments in the last five years. What a brilliant game of cricket. #NewZealand once again winning hearts along with winning the game.Great knock by Mitchell who was well supported by Conway & Neesham.Bairstow's incident at the ropes reminded me of what happened with Boult in the 2019 finals.Kudos to pic.twitter.com/XYUrJzTpHK Best game of the World Cup. Wow Daryll Mitchell. Jimmy Neesham the gamechanger. New Zealand simply sensational. Congratulations on reaching the finals NZ #ENGvsNZ New Zealand has 0 super star player and 11 solid team players. Well done #NewZealand Spectacular finisih by Mitchell! Got to his fifty,almost unnoticed let Nessham tee off and then finished off the chase in style! New Zealand again make an ICC tournament final, nothing but admiration for them. Hard on England, but the Kiwis were just a little better on the night. Brilliant stuff from @BLACKCAPS. They have qualified for the final in all 3 @ICC events: 2019 WC, 2021 WTC, & now #T20Worldcup. And please don't call this as NZ punching above their weight etc, it would be a disservice to this team that is as good if not better than most. #ENGvNZ Wow. Pure class. What a Comeback. What an amazing Comeback by New Zealand. What a performance. Focus & determination at its best. My afternoon prediction about it is in the follow up tweet!!Full video: https://t.co/xf1Xay2mct pic.twitter.com/mMtXQxD4W7 Actions > Words. #NZ is a perfect example of the same. Winners of the World Test Championship. Finalists of the fifty over and T20 World Cup. These are the last three ICC events. Might end up with two ICC trophies in one year...massive respect. #T20WorldCup Outstanding, class What a win @BLACKCAPS congratulations what a team this is @T20WorldCup #Goodboys Must be sweet. Congratulations to #NewZealand #T20WorldCup
Here are a few reactions:
"What a brilliant game of cricket. #NewZealand once again winning hearts along with winning the game. Great knock by Mitchell who was well supported by Conway & Neesham. Bairstow's incident at the ropes reminded me of what happened with Boult in the 2019 finals," wrote Sachin Tendulkar on Twitter.
Virender Sehwag called the England-New Zealand semi-final as the "best game" of the 2021 T20 World Cup.