And yet, the injury kept him out of the final, against an opposition that has tended to dominate. In 11 Odi against India, it has 21 WICKETS to an average of 21.00, with an economy rate of 4.48. The persecution of India in Dubai suffered stuttering in the middle, but finally came home with four leftover wicks, and one in reserve.
“He was Wickt’s main carrier entering this game, and is an exceptional bowling player, as we have seen,” said Santner (Henry’s 10 Wickts in an average of 16.70 still leads the wicker list of the champions trophies, despite the fact that the final was lost). “It seems to be able to bite it in Wickts that do not seem that they should bite, so I guess today we miss him today. I feel for Matty. He is a man of mass team and seemed quite distressed.
“We simply said, as, let’s do it for him. Going so far and then injuring the main event was quite difficult for him and I suppose for us. He tried everything that could be ready for this game, and unfortunately for us, he was not entirely there.”
There were other battles for which New Zealand had had to fight during the tournament. Where India played the five games in Dubai, New Zealand had to grow between Dubai and the three places in Pakistan, the only team in the Champions Trophy to play in four places.
“It will never go perfectly in these tournaments, I suppose, with the rapid change of games as we did,” said Santner. “But I think the most pleasant thing is that the different guys have opportunities and took a step forward. I could not be more proud of the group.
“There were boys entering and leaving due to an injury. And then, the way Rachin returned immediately after his head hit and hit the road, was great. And Kyle Jamieson flying and entering directly into the team, I thought he threw extremely well in the games he played.”
Although New Zealand made mistakes in the field when they tried to defend a 253 goal, they were the first entries that had been definitive, Santner said. New Zealand did not have 57 for Wickt after 7.4 overs, but then lost Will Young, Ravindra and Kane Williamson in rapid succession, to be 75 by 3 after 12.2 overs. Varun Chakaravarthy gave the first blow, before Kuldeep Yadav fired Ravindra and Williamson within his first seven deliveries.
“I think that the way we did during the first eight or less was outstanding. And then something brilliant of the spinnings was required to really return us and make it challenging through that average phase. After the beginning, we were probably thinking of a score of around 275 or 280.
“The credit has to go to Kuldeep for the way it was launched directly after the power game, and Varun within the power game.”
