'There should have been joint winners last year' - Gautam Gambhir lauds New Zealand's consistency in World Cups

New Zealand have always been one of those underrated teams who punch above their weight in the World Cup. Not many considered them even the favourites to win the mega event last year. But Kane Williamson‘s inspired leadership took them to final and they lost the chance of being crowned the world champions thanks to ICC’s bizarre rule which is scrapped now.

The Kiwis have been consistently playing some extremely good cricket at the world events over the years only to not win the elusive trophy. They qualified for the final of the 2015 World Cup as well but fell short in the final losing to Australia. Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir is impressed with the way BlackCaps have been playing in the ICC events and feels that they are never credited enough for the same.

The World Cup final had a lot of controversial moments which sparked the debate later but the New Zealand team didn’t make much of it. Though disappointed they took the defeat graciously with their skipper stating that not much was in their hands.

Speaking of the same, Gambhir reckons New Zealand should’ve been the joint-winners of the World Cup after the super over also ended in a tie. “There should have been joint World Cup winners last time around. They should have gotten that tag of being World Champions, but it was unfortunate,” he said while speaking in Star Sports’ program Cricket Connected.

Gautam Gambhir feels the Kiwis never get enough credit

New Zealand have now finished as the runners-up in the last two World Cups and had made it to the semi-final of the 2007 and 2011 editions. Gautam Gambhir lauded their consistency in the ICC tournaments pointing out that they have been extremely consistent without the due reward.

“If you see their overall record, they have been very consistent. For the last one World Cup, and the World Cup before that, they were the runners-up and they have been very consistent. I think they have been very competitive in every condition they have played. We don’t give them enough credit,” the 38-year-old added.