World Cup 2023:Ice-cool Williamson, India's fiery bunch and a knock-out jinx

Kane Williamson is a patient man. He has had good practice for most of 2023.

Williamson knows how success tastes. After all, he was the captain when New Zealand lifted the inaugural World Test Championship trophy in 2021, defeating India in the final.

Williamson knows all about heartbreak. He was a foot soldier when Brendon McCullum’s side surrendered the 50-over World Cup final to Australia in 2015. He was the general when England bested his troops without winning the match in the corresponding final four years later at Lord’s. And he was also the captain when Australia trumped his side by eight wickets in the T20 World Cup final in 2021.

Kane Williamson is a realist. A pragmatist. Someone who takes whatever life has to offer – good or bad – in his stride, without breaking a sweat, without carping or complaining or moaning or screaming ‘Why me?’

An inspirational, unquestioned leader

For long periods this year, it seemed as if New Zealand would have to settle for a World Cup campaign without their inspirational and unquestioned leader. Williamson ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee on March 31, the opening day of the IPL, playing for Gujarat Titans against Chennai Super Kings in Ahmedabad. The injury necessitated surgery and from then on, the right-hander was in a race against time to be fit for the World Cup. New Zealand gave him every opportunity to return to full fitness and Williamson didn’t play a single game in the interim; he missed his team’s first two outings of the World Cup, against England and Afghanistan, but when he returned to action against Bangladesh and looked in fine touch while breezing to 78, he was forced to retire hurt when a throw from the outfield broke his left thumb while he was running between the wickets.

Of all the ways to get injured, none is crueller, but Williamson is a master at making lemonade from the lemons life throws at him. So, he waited for the fracture to heal, plotted strategies with his efficient deputy Tom Latham and under-the-radar coach Gary Stead, and made 95 and 14 in his two hits since returning, against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, respectively.

A man who never frets or fumes

Having come through unscathed from the vicissitudes and whims of the cricketing gods, a malfunctioning audio system wasn’t going to rile him. On Tuesday (November 14), as he faced the media ahead of the semifinal against India, Williamson had to endure a 10-minute wait for things to be set right. He didn’t fret or fume; instead, he used the time to horse around with a full house of media persons, relaxed and showing no signs or nerves or pressure ahead of such a massive game. That wouldn’t have been Williamson now, would it?

“Not many people get that opportunity, playing cricket in India, playing against India in a World Cup semifinal – it is special and something to appreciate and look forward to,” Williamson remarked, making it clear that pro-India crowd or not, he and his teammates would enjoy the occasion and the stage, no matter what.

Jinxed in knockout games

The stage isn’t new to several in the New Zealand ranks, just as it isn’t to so many in the Indian set-up who have been at the receiving end of multiple disappointments over the years. From being the top gun between 2007 and 2013, India have played the bridesmaids since. During that golden six-year period, India lifted the inaugural T20 World Cup (2007), reached the No. 1 ranking in Tests for the first time (2009), became the first team to win the 50-over World Cup at home (2011) and swept the Champions Trophy in England (2013). Since then, their cabinet has been remarkably shorn of global silverware.

India’s record in knockout games at World Cups of the 50-over and 20-over versions is dispiriting, and the list is long. Defeated in the final of the T20 World Cup in 2014 by Sri Lanka in Mirpur, beaten in the semifinal of the 50-over World Cup in 2015 by Australia in Sydney, routed in the semis of the T20 World Cup in 2016 by West Indies in Mumbai, trounced in the final of the Champions Trophy in 2017 by Pakistan at The Oval, edged out in the semis of the 50-over World Cup in 2019 by New Zealand in Manchester and hammered in the semis of the T20 World Cup in 2021 by England in Adelaide. It’s a record that speaks to India’s consistency, but also their inability to make the final push, to lift themselves when it comes to the crunch. Throw in losses to New Zealand and Australia in the final of the World Test Championship in 2021 and 2023, respectively, and the picture of doom and gloom is complete.

Back in the reckoning

Or is it, really? India came into the World Cup ranked No. 1 in all three international formats, and have played a brand of cricket that has done justice to their status as the dominant force in the sport. Nine successive wins in the league phase, each of them with a fair degree of comfort, speak volumes about the hunger, ambition and drive of one of the finest Indian limited-overs teams of all time. They have handled the pressure of expectations with remarkable aplomb, they have made light of travelling nearly 15,000 km and setting stalls in nine different cities.

India have found a hero for each mini-crisis, a star for every occasion. Their two most experienced hands, skipper Rohit Sharma and his predecessor Virat Kohli, have led from the front with the bat, and their two best pacers, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami (introduced belatedly), have been blazing a stunning trail. There is a certain calmness about the entire squad, almost Williamson-like, that is a legacy of the wisdom of Rohit and Rahul Dravid, the head coach.

Several of this 15 have tasted firsthand the bitter aftertaste of crushing defeats in World Cups. For many of them, the sands of time are running out; this could be their last shot at glory, and that’s as good a motivating force as any. They won’t view Wednesday (November 15) so much as an opportunity to exact revenge for what happened four-and-a-half years back as a chance to close in on their burning dream, a dream further driven by a billion Indians who have lived and breathed the World Cup just like their heroes.