“It Was Used Wicket, But…”: Kane Williamson Shuts Down Pitch Swap Controversy Talks

Right before the start of the Cricket World Cup 2023 semi-final between India and New Zealand, a controversy hit the cricketing world, with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) being accused of changing the pitch at the last minute. There were suggestions that India made the change in order to tilt the equation in their favour a little. When New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson was asked about the same in the post-match press conference, he played down the chatter.

Williamson, in the presser, admitted that it was a used wicket but since it was a good one, New Zealand had no objection.

“No, I mean, yeah it was a used wicket, but a pretty good surface really, as we saw. I mean, they got plenty out of it in the first half of the match. And conditions, I guess they change as they go under lights and things, and that’s what we’ve seen throughout this competition. That’s fine, that’s what you expect and they played really well. So yeah, I mean it’s disappointing to get to this stage and not go further, but also at the same time you sort of reflect on the seven weeks rather than a couple of small moments and we lost to a better side,” he said, responding to a reporter’s question.

Williamson also called India ‘the best team in the world’, saying they will enter the final full of confidence.

“They’re the best team in the world and they’re all playing their best cricket, so that’s tough. And I think we see in cricket – often it’s surrounded with failure and how you deal with it. The way they’ve played throughout this tournament has been incredible. They haven’t missed a beat really and to come into a semi-final, you go through your round-robin and you try and get to the stage and it starts again but the way they came out and played, yeah, shows the mindset that they have and the space that they’re in and I’ve got no doubt they’ll go into that next match full of confidence,” said the Kiwi skipper.