'India is world's best team, playing best cricket. Lost to better team..', says Kane Williamson after semifinal defeat

Mumbai: New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson said he lost to a better team and that India is the best team going in the tournament.

“India are playing seriously good cricket. They are a class side at the top of their game. To come out in a semi-final and repeat what they've been doing throughout this competition shows where they're as a team,” he said.

“They're the best team in the world and playing their best cricket. We see in cricket – it’s often surrounded with failure and how you deal with it. They haven't missed a beat 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, shows the mindset that they have and the space that they're in,” he said.

Though he and Daryl Mithcell rendered a worrying partnership for India, against the odds of 397 runs in the first semifinal of this World Cup, Williamson admitted that India “put us under a lot of pressure in that first half… Credit to the way that they played,” said.

He was, however, quick to add that “in the second half, proud of the fight, it was tough. There was a lot of movement with the new ball so to give ourselves a bit of a sniff, was a fair effort. As a side, we can be quite proud of the effort that's gone into getting to where we are.”

He said that all the storm around the pitch being changed at the home team’s behest it was a pretty good surface. “They got plenty out of it in the first half of the match. And conditions change as they go under lights. That's what we've seen throughout this competition,” he added.

Williamson, known to be a friend who grew up in cricket alongside Kohli, said Virat’s 50 century landmark is “something quite special. If you play 50 games, some people will call that a great career. To get 50 hundreds, I am trying to find the words to describe it,” he said.

Williamson is taken in by the way Kohli goes about it. “It's actually about winning games for his team, always about pushing his team forward. He's the best, isn't he? And he seems to be getting better, which is a worry for oppositions all around the world, but you admire it. It's incredible,” he said.

As a leader, Williamson has acquired legendary status with his humility and knowledge of the game. He has captained highly talented players like Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Tom Latham.

“It's been an ongoing effort. As a side to keep trying to get better and push the boundaries of where we can get to as a team. All these players are a massive part of that. They're all different in how they operate but they're all leaders in their own right and share a real passion for this team. We have learnt in the last seven weeks, how to approach our cricket in order move this team forward. It's not over just yet but that's where the focus is,” he said.

Talking about Mohammed Shami who took five and seven wickets respectively in both games against New Zealand, he said, “coming on first change, behind two outstanding new ball bowlers, he's without doubt one of the top operators in the world and the way he moves the ball and keeps bringing the stumps into play is phenomenal,” he added.

Speaking of consistent failure in the penultimate match of a world summit, Williamson said that in this one, the injuries did not help. “We had a couple of close losses. We continue to focus on how we want to keep going out as a team, not overreact to the loss and keep turning up and playing what's in front of us. We did quite well to get to the stage. In a knockout, anything can happen. It wasn't to be today but am proud of a lot of the effort that went into it. It was an extremely tough first half. India came out in full force and we didn't create many opportunities. It was tough to try and stem the flow of runs. We lost without doubt to the better team,” he said.

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