The 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE saw New Zealand end as the runners-up.
On Saturday (October 15), Kane Williamson, captain of New Zealand, downplayed his team not being considered the "favorites" to win the T20 World Cup 2022, saying he had little control over what other people think of their chances at the prestigious tournament.
After losing to England in the finals of the 2019 ODI World Cup by the “barest of all margins”, they competed against India in the World Test Championship final and emerged victorious.
Last year, they competed in the T20 World Cup in the UAE and made it to the final, where they fell to Australia. Despite reaching the knockout stages of almost every limited-overs ICC tournament recently, the BlackCaps are yet to win any.
“Yeah, I mean, we don't really have a choice in what people call us, but for us, we came here and try and focus on the cricket that we want to play and address what's in front of us,” Williamson said at the captains' press conference on Saturday.
SEE ALSO: WATCH – Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian team’s epic celebration after winning the trophy
"We had a pretty memorable World Cup a few months back and played these guys in the final. It was a great game of cricket, and these sorts of tournaments are always pretty special to be a part of.
Everybody has different tags and rankings that go up and down throughout the year, and I suppose they end up with different names. But you come here in tournament sport on any day, anything can happen, especially looking across all these teams with match winners throughout," he added.
They will begin their campaign at the T20 World Cup 2022 against Australia on October 22 in Sydney.
(ICC INPUTS)