New Zealand suffered 8-wicket defeat at the hands of Australia in the T20 World Cup 2021 final.
The Kiwis suffered a comprehensive eight-wicket defeat despite posting a competitive total of 172/4 on the board in the summit clash at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Before this final, the Black Caps had copped defeats in the finals of 2015 and 2019 ODI World Cups against Australia and England, respectively.
“You sign up to play the game, and you win and you lose, and these are things that can happen on any day,” Williamson said in the post-match press conference.
“Credit to the way Australia chased it, they didn’t give us an inch. Wasn’t to be today, but proud of how we’ve operated.
“You know, if you look at the campaign on a whole, which we do, and the type of cricket that we have been able to play, I can say that we are very proud of our efforts throughout this period of time. You get to a final and anything can happen,” he further explained.
Williamson tried to put things in perspective and, in a roundabout manner, said that 2019 World Cup final hurt even more.
“You mentioned perhaps that white ball in 2019, which might be a longer discussion if you have some time.
“And all these different fine lines and results, they happen, you know, and today, we turned up and played some really good cricket. And it wasn’t quite good enough. That’s sort of just the way it goes, you know, and for us, it’s still putting our energy into the right areas,” he reasoned.
New Zealand have played four finals of the last six ICC events and won only one of them. Earlier this year, they defeated India to clinch the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) title.
“There are a lot of positives in the statements that you made, and for us, it’s still trying to build on that and grow as a team. You want to win these comps. You want the fruits, and so did say lot of other teams.
“When you do turn up on the day, anything can happen, and we can see how competitive this competition has been right through the group stages, as well, and there were so many sides that were more than capable of winning this competition," he added.
“But like I say, really proud of the efforts that have gone in from our side across the board.”
The New Zealand captain accepted that they couldn’t create enough opportunities when Australia batted.
“The guys worked hard to get to what we thought was a competitive total. Unfortunately we weren’t able to create many opportunities and get those breakthroughs. Yeah, it was a little bit frustrating.”
Williamson felt the conditions became easier for batting as the day progressed.
“We sort of thought on that surface that we had a few opportunities to do that and build some pressure. Yeah, I think we’ve seen the conditions throughout be fairly consistent, and the ball did skid on a little bit.
“But the Aussies were outstanding in their chase and very, very clinical. They have had a fantastic campaign, and they are a brilliant side and they thoroughly deserved it.”
(With PTI inputs)