The first T20I between India and New Zealand was abandoned on Friday without a ball being bowled. Both captains Hardik Pandya and Kane Williamson would have been disappointed with the outcome and there was an interesting response from each of them as they were quizzed whether India vs New Zealand second T20I could be an unofficial third-place decider for the T20 World Cup 2022.
Both the teams lost their respective semifinals to England and Pakistan and thus bowed out of the T20 World Cup. While there is no official third-place playoff in the World Cup, the presenter asked the same question to both Hardik and Kane and they gave contrasting answers, but Kane did pull the Indian skipper's leg with his cheeky reply.
"The World Cup is done, I’ve left it behind. The disappointment will be there, but we can’t go back and change things. We’re now looking forward to this series," said Hardik on India vs New Zealand second tie being a third-place decider for T20 World Cup.
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The presenter then asked the same question to Kane, who had an intriguing response.
"I don't believe so. It wouldn't have been a very nice game to play I thought so. Hardik, what do you reckon?" as the pair of them burst out into laughter. Kane however further insisted that the ongoing series was 'fresh' start.
"We'll start fresh, this is a new series both sides are looking forward to. We both wanted to get to the final, but we’ve got a week to rest and get ourselves ready for this," added the Kiwis captain.
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While the weather was expected to play spoilsport in Wellington Kane was also quizzed about the conditions of Mount Maunganui, wherein he expected a big crowd to greet the two sides.
"It is usually sunny out there, with a bit of rain. Hopefully we get a full house," concluded Williamson.
