New Zealand cricket team created history last week as they defeated India by 8 wickets to clinch the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) title.
The marquee clash saw two full days of play get washed out due to rain in Southampton and there were fewer chances of a result in the favour of either side. But Day 6, which was a reserve day, produced the result after New Zealand bowlers bundled out India for 170 runs.
Lanky pacer Kyle Jamieson was the wrecker-in-chief with the ball as he earned the Player-of-the-Match award for his 7 wickets in the game, including a five-wicket haul in India’s first innings.
Reflecting on the final day’s play, Jamieson on Tuesday (June 29) revealed that the last couple of hours of WTC final were so ‘tough to watch’ that he had to go the bathroom to avoid the noise and tense moments.
While Jamieson didn’t mention those moments but his words had enough indications to suggest that it was the time when India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had dismissed the Kiwi openers Tom Latham and Devon Conway in quick succession.
New Zealand were in a spot of bother at 44/2 while chasing 139 to win in the fourth innings.
"It was pretty tough to watch. I actually tried to at times to go to the bathroom where there was no noise to just get away from it for a while because it was quite nerve-racking,” Jamieson told Country Sport Breakfast on Gold AM, according to NZ Herald.
After the two quick wickets, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor forged an unbeaten 96-run stand to take New Zealand over the line.
“It was nice to have Kane and Ross out there, two of our greatest ever batters really to calm the nerves and finish the job the way they did," he added.
Jamieson, who was featuring in his 8th Test match, said it was the ‘toughest period of Test cricket’ that he has been a part of.
"It was probably the toughest period of cricket I've been a part of, in terms of watching.
"We were sitting inside and actually watching on TV. There was a bit of a delay but it seemed like every ball the Indian crowd was up and about and I was like 'jeez it's a wicket' or something like that, but it turned out it was just a block or a single,” Jamieson said.
"It was good. Nothing too crazy," Jamieson said about the post-game celebrations. "We just spent time in the changing room and back in the team room. Obviously with the whole Covid situation, there wasn't a whole lot of getting out and about.
"It was just nice, to be fair, to spend time together and enjoy the time together after a couple of years of hard work and a long tour as well. Just to sit back and enjoy each other's company was quite nice," he further remarked.
