Kane Williamson Clears the Clutter On The Pitch Swap Controversy

Before the commencement of the World Cup ODI 2023’s first semi-final match between India and New Zealand at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, a controversy erupted in the cricketing fraternity that the Indian apex council for Cricket swapped the pitch in the last minutes before the mega event begins. This wasn’t the first time in this World Cup that the critics came in to complain about the pitch in favour of the Men in Blue, but little did they know that those decisions are taken by the International Cricket Board and have no interference or involvement fo the host country’s cricket council. When asked to the opposition captain regarding the situation in the post-match media conference, he answered in his own way.

Williamson in the press conference, admitted to the fact that indeed it was a used wicket but since it was a good one to play on, so, they didn’t have any 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 stated, responding to a journalist’s question.

Williamson also named this Indian squad as 'the best team in the world'. 

"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 by 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 BlackCaps skipper.