Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum feels the Black Caps missed out on the opportunity by not being aggressive against Australia in the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021.
New Zealand had entered the final of the T20 World Cup 2021 on the back of a sensational win over England, but they were “a little bit timid” in the summit clash and paid the price, as Australia won the game by eight wickets to clinch their maiden T20 World Cup trophy in Dubai on November 14.
McCullum stated: “I don't want to say we took a knife to a gunfight we took a gun, but we didn't fire any bullets, a little bit timid. Just a missed opportunity, we didn't fire the bullets we took.”
The former skipper also pointed out that the lack of aggression while scoring runs played a role in the Kiwis’ defeat against mighty Australians in the T20 World Cup 2021 final.
He explained, “I just expected a bit more from (Martin Guptill), he got 28 off 35 balls in the final and that in isolation doesn't look great. But then when you strip it down, he was 16 off 15 to get underway in the final, and then his next 20 balls he scored 12 runs, that's the time where you need to be accelerating, and all it did was (take) the air out of us. (That was) the most glaringly obvious part of our batting.”
McCullum said New Zealand needed a more aggressive approach against Australia in the final.
He signed off by saying, “When you take on the Aussies, you've got to be prepared to risk failure to overcome them. They are not going to hand it to you. I'd just like to see us be more aggressive in those situations.”
(With PTI Inputs)
