Kolkata: A five-match series against India on similar black soil surfaces in the lead up to the T20 World Cup proved invaluable, said explosive New Zealand opener Finn Allen after powering the Kiwis to the T20 World Cup final with a nine-wicket win over South Africa here on Wednesday.Allen lit up the Eden Gardens with a stunning 33-ball 100 not out, toying the South African attack with towering sixes and superb boundaries as New Zealand chased down 170 in just 12.5 overs, sealing a nine-wicket win with 43 balls to spare.
“It was an extremely impressive start from our bowlers — they set the game up for us, for sure,” Allen said in the post-match media interaction.
“On a surface like that, if you can take wickets up front and build pressure, it makes life a lot easier for the batters.”
The swashbuckling right-hander underlined the importance of the pre-tournament India series.
“…it just shows the importance of that India series the boys played before the World Cup. Five games on black soil… you can’t replicate that kind of preparation,” he said.
“We learnt a lot as a group. As a team, we get up for the fight. In those important games, we’re prepared to scrap and stay in it till the end. The boys with the ball especially did that today and really set the tone.”
Allen will return to this venue as part of the Kolkata Knight Riders squad after being snapped up for Rs 2-crore at the IPL auction.
“I’m pretty happy to bat on that wicket a bit more often… It’s my first time playing in Kolkata. Having had that last game against India on black soil gave me a proper look at what to expect. That was really helpful coming into this one.”
The opener, who had struck 80 in the lone game he played for New Zealand in the 1-4 series defeat to India, said the learning curve had been steep but rewarding.
“You take your lessons quickly in international cricket. We didn’t get the results in that series, but we took a lot of confidence out of competing in those conditions.”
Allen also reserved special praise for opening partner Tim Seifert, whose 33-ball 58 ensured South Africa never regained control.
“He just kept dealing in boundaries… he’s been doing that all tournament. He’s in incredible form. He’s an incredible player and he’s showing the world what he can do,” Allen said.
“It makes it easier for me. Sometimes I feel like I’ve got the best seat in the house watching him go. It’s good fun batting with Timmy when he’s in that mood.”
South Africa had beaten New Zealand in the group stage and entered the semifinal unbeaten, but Allen said the Kiwis had drawn lessons from that loss in Ahmedabad.
“We looked closely at that first game against them,” he said.
“They’ve been outstanding all tournament, backing up performances. But playing them earlier gave us a bit of insight into their plans and we tried to use that to our advantage.”
On the final on Sunday, “As a nation, hopefully everyone gets behind us and rallies around us for Sunday. Finals are special… you don’t get too many chances at them.”
Not choke but a snotklap: Shukri Conrad
For South Africa, it was another painful exit at the knockout stage, but head coach Shukri Conrad refused to term it a choke.
“I don’t know if tonight was a choke. I thought it was a bloody walloping,” Conrad said bluntly.
“In order for you to choke, you must have had a sniff in the game. We didn’t have a sniff. In South Africa, we’d say we ‘got moered’.”
He then used a distinctly South African phrase to sum up the defeat.
“Tonight, we got a proper ‘snotklap’ — that’s an Afrikaans word for a real hiding, a smack you don’t see coming. That’s what it felt like,” said Conrad, who had courted controversy during last year’s Test series in India with fiery comments about wanting the Indian team to “grovel”.
He further admitted New Zealand had outplayed them in all departments.
“I thought New Zealand were excellent. They exploited the conditions really well, especially with their spinners up front. We never got out of the blocks,” he said.
“We chose a really bad night to have an off day. Maybe it would have been nice to win the toss, but that’s no excuse. We didn’t put up anything close to a competitive score.”
He brushed aside suggestions that playing bulk of their previous matches in Ahmedabad had left them underprepared for a different venue.
“There’s always something you can point to… playing all our games in Ahmedabad, coming to a new state… but that’s not why we lost,” he said.
“They strangled us early, never allowed us momentum and every time we tried to rebuild, they shut the door. We weren’t good enough and they were excellent.”
Despite the crushing defeat, Conrad took pride in his side’s seven-match winning run en route to the semifinals as they were the only undefeated side to the last-four.
“We did so many special things in this tournament. I’m incredibly proud of these guys,” he said.
“Not many people gave us a chance of making the semifinals when we left home, given our form before the World Cup. But that’s no consolation right now. You get judged on World Cups and winning them.
“The guys are hurting, as they should be. But we played some exceptional cricket through this campaign,” he signed off.