New Zealand pacer Tim Southee has admitted that they headed to the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 on the back of good preparation, thanks to the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The senior bowler also credited IPL 2021 for New Zealand bowlers' great preparation for the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021, saying playing in the T20 league just before the global tournament helped them gain familiarity with the UAE conditions.
Notably, almost all the New Zealand bowlers like Southee, Trent Boult, Adam Milne, Kyle Jamieson, and spinner Mitchell Santner featured in the second leg of the IPL 2021.
Southee said at a press conference ahead of the New Zealand vs Scotland clash: “Yeah, I think a number of guys were a part of the IPL here are playing in these conditions, playing not only in these conditions but playing the T20 format can only be a good thing.”
He continued, “I think it has helped. As a bowling group, I think all the majority of the bowlers were part, the pace bowlers were part of the IPL. I think we’re taking bits from that, playing on the same surfaces and using that to our knowledge.”
When asked if they have learned what they need to about Scotland, as they don’t face them quite often, Southee said: “It’s not only an opposition we don’t know too much about and don’t get to play that often, but it’s also a day game. We have our scouting meetings and we have our tactics and meetings over today and try to come up with some plans.”
He further added, “I think the beauty of these days is there’s enough footage out there. Scotland obviously has been playing a bit of cricket in the lead-up into this tournament so there’s enough footage out there for us to come up with some plans.”
New Zealand won the inaugural ICC World Test Championship earlier this year, but Southee has insisted that they are not currently thinking of winning two ICC trophies this year as they are taking things one by one and going deep into the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021.
Southee said, “No, definitely not. I think whenever you turn up to a world event, you want to do well. The goal for every side is to go as deep into the tournament as possible and try and win it. So the mindset, when you go into a world event, doesn’t change, but for us, it’s about each game as it comes.”
He concluded, “It’s a tough tournament, a short tournament. You can’t get too far ahead of yourself. A strength of ours is we take each game as it comes. Things didn’t go as planned against Pakistan but we were able to learn from it and move on, shifting our focus to India. Things went well against India.”
(With PTI Inputs)
