It was a complete team effort, says Williamson after Bangladesh mauling

He was delighted with the performance of his bowlers, especially pacers, on what he termed a bouncy wicket.

Chennai: New Zealand captain Kane Williamson on Friday termed the comfortable win over Bangladesh a “complete team effort”.

New Zealand defeated Bangladesh by eight wickets to register their third successive win in the showpiece.

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Asked to bat first, Bangladesh scored 245 for nine but the Kiwis chased down the target with 43 balls to spare.

For New Zealand, Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell made 78 and 89 respectively.

“Really good team performance. Great team performance,” said Williamson, who retired hurt after getting a knock on his thumb from a throw.

Asked about his injury, the Kiwi skipper said: “Just made holding the bat a little tough. Secondary to the thumb. Just got a bit fat and colourful straight away so got a scan tomorrow, but hopefully it’s okay.” Williamson also allayed fears about his knee injury, which he sustained during the last IPL.

“It’s okay, glad to get through the game from a knee perspective, but from a team perspective it was great as well,” he said.

He was delighted with the performance of his bowlers, especially pacers, on what he termed a bouncy wicket.

“I thought the guys in the first half of the performance were excellent. They just banged the wicket hard, it was a bit variable. And then later it was nice to build those partnerships and take the game late.

“Midway through the powerplay we realised that we should hit the surface. Not a bad surface, and a really good competitive wicket,” he said.

He also lauded right-arm pacer Lockie Ferguson (3/49) for his bowling exploits that earned him the player-of-the-match award.

“He (Ferguson) was outstanding. You come here expecting the spinners to play a big role, but the seamers did really well today. Lockie he just keeps running in, bowling at high pace and he hasn’t had some of that good fortune, so thoroughly deserved.” Mitchell also came in for praise from the skipper for his unbeaten knock.

“He’s (Mitchell) a great competitor, makes valuable contributions more often than not, he’s a team first guy and he’s great to watch.” Bangladesh batter Najmul Hossain Shanto came at the post-match presentation ceremony in place of injured skipper Shakib Al Hasan, who was suffering from a foot injury.

“Shakib has gone for a scan after that, we’ll know more,” Shanto said.

Shanto attributed the loss to poor batting.

“We didn’t bat well, same as the last match. We need to improve in the first 15 overs. There was a bit of extra bounce with the new ball but after that the wicket was quite good. The top-order needs to bat more responsibly,” he said.

“It was a good wicket, so we just needed to be a bit more responsible at the start. Last match we didn’t bowl well but today everyone showed their character. If they continue like this it will be very good going forward. The biggest improvement is our fast bowling, if we bat well in the next few games it will be a different ball game.” Ferguson said he was happy to perform his role.

“It was a good team effort. Created pressure throughout, meant that I could do my role really,” he said.

He was delighted to see some pace on Indian pitches in this World Cup.

“Compared to Hyderabad this (Chennai pitch) had more bounce. I tried to test it out early with newer ball. But it was a good all-round performance by the boys. Yeah it’s nice, haven’t played here before though, so nice to see a bit of pace on the wicket, we have Afghanistan next so hope to see a similar wicket,” Fergusson said.

“It’s early stages, but it’s certainly nice… three wins. But a long way to go.”