WTC Final | Excited about what this trophy could for New Zealand cricket’s future, admits Gary Stead

Gary Stead, post New Zealand’s World Test Championship win, has admitted that he is excited about how the trophy would go on to inspire budding cricketers in New Zealand. Alongside that, Stead also revealed that their plan was to bat longer in the first innings to remove spin out of the picture.

New Zealand’s planning against India worked out to the T, as the BlackCaps pulled off an impressive all-rounded win against the dominant force led by Virat Kohli. However, for the BlackCaps, this win comes as part of a larger picture, after their losses in the 2015 World Cup final against Australia and the 2019 World Cup final, against England, on a boundary count. 

For a country with a population of around 50 lakhs, the victory against one of the powerhouses of cricket would come as a motivational booster, to promote the sport in the country. On the same lines, BlackCaps head coach Gary Stead admitted that he is excited about the future and insisted that the trophy win would bring about a good future for New Zealand cricket. 

“We are excited (about) what this could do for cricket in New Zealand as well. That’s a really good thing that we have to make sure that we have young cricketers – boys and girls – in New Zealand that want to partake in cricket,” Stead told Niche Sports YouTube Channel.

On day six, there was a period, when the New Zealand batsmen had struggled against the two Indian spinners, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. Stead confirmed that their plan in the first innings was to bat longer, to score more runs, which would help them in the last innings. He also added that with the pitches wearing and tearing, the influence of spin would have been more apparent in the game.  

“We were actually hoping to bat a little bit longer than we did and hopefully score some more runs. We thought first-innings runs were going to be very important on a pitch that was wearing and we knew (Ravichandran) Ashwin and (Ravindra) Jadeja were going to become more and more apparent in the game as it went on,” he concluded.

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