New Zealand captain Kane Williamson felt that his team wasn't able to create many opportunities while defending 173 against Australia in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup final. He was gracious in defeat, saying that Australia were clinical with their chase and thoroughly deserved to be the champions. In their first Men's T20 World Cup final, New Zealand lost to Australia by eight wickets at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.
"I thought the efforts that went in were outstanding. The guys worked hard towards what was a competitive total. Unfortunately, we weren't able to create many opportunities and get those breakthroughs. It was a little bit frustrating. I think we have seen the conditions throughout. They have been fairly consistent and the ball did skid on a little bit. But Aussies were outstanding in their chase and very clinical. They have had a fantastic campaign and thoroughly deserved that (title)," said Williamson in the post-final press conference.
Williamson believed that the pitch early on was tough to score runs upon as they were at 57/1 in the first ten overs. "It did feel tough. It was just holding in the wicket a little bit. Sort of normal characteristics I think of the Dubai surfaces. It was nice to sort of build a platform and accelerate from there which we were able to do. I suppose when you lose, you look at a number of different areas and you want more of everything. But I think if we look at a whole, the campaign and the effort that went in and the performances that went into getting us here, and even tonight, it's always a fine line with winning and losing, especially in this format. But you come up against a very strong side in Australia and they are playing very, very well, and they did that again tonight."
