New Zealand will embrace its standing as Indian cricket followers’ ‘second-favourite crew’ because it appears to be like to navigate a tricky Tremendous Eight group and attain the semifinals of the Twenty20 World Cup, all-rounder Daryl Mitchell mentioned.
The 2021 finalist, which was knocked out within the group stage on the final version, finds itself going through two must-win matches towards former champion Sri Lanka and England after Saturday’s washout towards Pakistan.
“We consider ourselves as India’s second favorite crew and the help that we get within the nation is absolutely cool,” Mitchell advised Reuters.
“Hopefully, we might flip the ocean of blue that we’re used to when we play towards India into some black shirts as nicely.”
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New Zealand should first negotiate the turning tracks of Colombo when it faces Sri Lanka on Wednesday and England two days later, with Mitchell hopeful that his crew’s expertise can come into play.
“We all grew up in New Zealand on quick, bouncy, grassy wickets,” he added.
“I suppose the expertise that our group has gained from enjoying in these elements of the world over a quantity of years has helped in how we wish to go about it.”
Whereas New Zealand has one eye on its maiden World Cup trophy, Mitchell confused the significance of staying targeted.
“It’d be very nice to recover from the road and win a trophy, however there’s quite a lot of cricket to be performed between every now and then,” the 34-year-old mentioned.
“So, for us, the energy is that we keep current within the second. We don’t look too far forward, and we don’t make it greater than what it’s.”
Mitchell, who has 1,856 T20I runs from 100 matches since his debut in 2019, has slotted into the function of a finisher thanks primarily to the explosive type of openers Tim Seifert and Finn Allen.
“The ‘Bash Brothers’ up prime have carried out an excellent job and lengthy that proceed all through this event. We’ve recognised the steadiness of our aspect over right here in India,” Mitchell mentioned.
“The PowerPlay is essential, however the identical goes for the center (overs) with spin and the demise as nicely. I’ve a finisher’s function from the ten overs onwards—making an attempt to learn and adapt to the state of affairs of the sport and try to assist us win these moments on the again finish of the innings.”
Printed on Feb 23, 2026