Cricket World Cup: Comeback king Kane Williamson guides New Zealand to third straight win with classy knock against Bangladesh | Cricket-world-cup News

Black is an inescapable colour in Chennai. It is the colour that revolutionised its biggest-ever political movement which continues till date. It is a colour that means dominance in these parts. In the not-so-dant past, there was even a period when one could be denied entry at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on match days for donning black shirts or t-shirts.
But on Friday, as the rest of the world’s gaze was on Ahmedabad, and all the talk centred around India vs Pakan, it was hard to miss a black t-shirt with Kane Williamson’s name on its back. On a humid evening, between their bowlers’ splendid job and Daryl Mitchell’s finishing touch, it was Williamson who weaved his magic with an unbeaten 78 to guide New Zealand to their third successive win at the World Cup.
The eight-wicket victory over Bangladesh may have been a resounding one but one could see New Zealand preferring not to make a big deal of it. “Six more matches to go, let’s see how it goes,” was the cliché that their players stuck to later on. Of course, humility is a Kiwi characteric. But one would never know with these poker-faced men, who have a zillion tricks up their sleeves with bat and ball in hand that allow them to embrace each and every condition they encounter with aplomb.

Maybe, they prefer it this way, for it helps them fly under the radar before others wake up and realise that they are in the semifinals once again. The way they have got off the blocks at this World Cup in three varied conditions in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and now in Chennai on Friday has all the makings of a team that can go the dance after two near-misses in the last two editions. The original underdogs at every World Cup, perhaps this is the one where they emerge as top dogs on every front.
After Lockie Ferguson’s stellar spell in the middle overs, Bangladesh managed to stretch their total to 245. It definitely seemed sub-par on this surface, but not something that looked like a walk in the park for New Zealand. Apart from Williamson, in Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra and Tom Latham they had the ideal nimble-footed batsmen to tackle Bangladesh’s spin threat.

But after the early dismissal of Ravindra, it once again came down to Williamson. When he limped off the field after attempting a catch during the first match of the IPL all those months ago, the World Cup looked like a near-impossible dream. A ruptured ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) in his right knee, the worst sort of injury an athlete could suffer, needed surgery and a long recovery. Such injuries tend to sideline elite athletes across sports for eight to nine months at least. Williamson even got the World Cup out of his mind as it could have turned him desperate. “It was probably a good thing just to get my head stuck into rehab each day and not sort of rush it and that was really my focus and I was fortunate as well I had a really, really good team around me back home and also fortunate not to have a lot of setbacks during that time,” Williamson said.
Calm and focused
As the World Cup neared, Williamson – just like how he fronts up in a chase – hardly panicked, letting time do the healing. There were milestones to take care off at each phase of the recovery, similar to what he faced in Chennai in pursuit of the target. Not once did he seem out of place, or do anything that could invite trouble.
With Bangladesh asking questions with the new ball, he fought through the tough phase, which would have reminded him of his early days after the injury. It wasn’t the time for the ego to take over. Ba steps had to be taken before he walked briskly. Williamson just grinded it out. The timing, which is the essence of his batting, was at the forefront of it. Not for a single delivery did he look like a batsman who hadn’t played an international fixture for seven months.Most Read
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He first stitched an 80-run partnership for the second wicket with Conway that put New Zealand on the way. And for the third wicket in the company of Mitchell, who in the past has struggled on subcontinent pitches, Williamson milked the Bangladesh attack. With the required run rate well under control and Mitchell showing a tendency to struggle against spinners, he took it upon himself to let his partner settle, even helping him overcome a nervy start.

In the stands, each run that Williamson ran prompted claps. Boundaries would be greeted with cheers. now, Chepauk was entering the territory where Williamson was beginning to put on an exhibition, but only for it to be cut short a throw that hit him on the thumb prompting him to retire hurt on 78, after having put together an unbroken 108-run stand with Mitchell.
Barring that slight hiccup in the end with regard to Williamson, this was yet another outing where New Zealand pulled the strings from ball one.