New Zealand bowler Tim Southee has said that India are a quality side and they have proved that for many years now, ahead of New Zealand’s crucial Super 12s fixture at the T20 World Cup 2021. Having lost to Pakistan in their respective opening matches, the two teams will face off in Dubai on Sunday, October 31.
Both India and New Zealand lost their first match to Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2021. While India faced a defeat by 10 wickets in Dubai on Sunday, New Zealand faced it two days later in Sharjah as well. But, Tim Southee referred to the Virat Kohli-led team as a “quality side”, as he is excited to take on India tomorrow as well.
“They (India) are a quality side. They have shown that for many years and for them as well coming off a loss, they will be eager to win as well. So, it should be a great contest against two very good sides,” Southee said after a practice session on Friday. “It’s always tight in the first game. We went far off against a quality Pakistan side but we need to look forward in such a short tournament. There are no easy games so it’s now about focus shifting towards India.”
Tim Southee also opened up on the different conditions offered by the three venues – Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai – in the competition so far.
“We knew coming here is different to how we play in New Zealand. So, you have to adapt to those conditions, you also have to adapt to all three grounds as well,” he said. “They offer different assistance for the seamers. We saw in Sharjah slower balls and back of the length worked. In Dubai, the wicket has little more pace in it and seems to be a better wicket.”
However, he had become the third bowler to take 100 T20I wickets on Tuesday as well, when he removed Pakistan captain Babar Azam. It was Rashid Khan, who became the fastest bowler to reach the milestone, taking just 53 matches.
“It’s nice when you play for a while and get a milestone. Not many people have done it so far with T20 not being around for too long. Not only T20, but all three formats. It’s a challenge to juggle all three formats and to be able to do that for a long period of time is pretty satisfying. Looking at ways to keep improving your game, adapt to different conditions, different formats is something I have looked to do over the years. Hopefully there are many more years to come,” Tim Southee concluded.
