Everyone is labelling England as favourites, but New Zealand is no less: Inzamam-ul-Haq

Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has voiced his opinion on the semi-final between England and New Zealand at the T20 World Cup 2021. The two teams have shared a fierce rivalry in the last few years, especially in the ICC tournaments. Inzamam expressed that even though everyone might consider England favourites, New Zealand is not any less. 

Both England and New Zealand have won four of their five matches to enter the semi-finals. England defeated Australia, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh but lost to South Africa. New Zealand, on the other hand, lost to Pakistan but won their matches against India, Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia.

In his recent YouTube video, the former Pakistan batter pointed out the achievements of New Zealand in the recent past. He said he believes the Blackcaps are quite a strong team in all three formats and have played some good cricket in the last two years. They almost won the 50-over World Cup in 2019 and later went on to lift the inaugural ICC World Test Championship. 

Ever since Williamson became captain, NZ’s playing style has changed: Inzamam-ul-Haq

“Everyone is labelling England favourites, and rightly so because of the way they have played in the last two years. But, at the same time, New Zealand has also played well across all formats. They are champions when it comes to the longest format and is ranked well in ODIs,” Inzamam-ul-Haq said on his YouTube channel.

Speaking about the performance of the New Zealand team, Inzamam noted that since Kane Williamson has taken over captaincy the team has been very positive on the field. He pointed out that they are playing a very aggressive kind of cricket and also in a sensible manner. He also praised England and their skipper Eoin Morgan for their transformation as a white-ball giant. 

“They have performed well in this T20 World Cup as well. So, I won’t say New Zealand is an inferior team when compared to England. Ever since Williamson became captain, NZ’s playing style has changed very much. Their body language is very positive. They are playing aggressive cricket in a sensible manner,” Inzamam added.