T20 World Cup 2021 | Excited to play and make a difference with the ball, says Adam Milne

10/29/2021

New Zealand fast bowler Adam Milne is excited to make an impact at the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021. Milne was added into the squad before the team's last fixture against Pakistan in Sharjah on Tuesday, as a replacement for Lockie Ferguson, who was ruled out of the tournament due to calf injury.

New Zealand went down toi Pakistan by five wickets in their first match of the T20 World Cup 2021 at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday. Batting first, Blackcaps posted a total of 134/8, with Daryl Mitchell and Devon Conway scroing 27 each.

In reply, they were undone by a match-defining unbeaten 48-run parthership between Shoaib Malik (26* off 20) and Asif Ali (27* off 12), who ensured that the chase was completed with 1.2 overs remaining.

Before the start of the match, New Zealand had suffered a blow when Lockie Ferguson was ruled out of the tournament with a calf injury. Adam Milne, who was named as the replacement couldn't feature in the match, and he is now keen to make a mark in upcoming matches.

"I definitely feel like this has been the best period of cricket that I've had in a long, long time. I'm excited to hopefully make a difference with the ball in these games here and really prove that this period has been influential for me," Milne said.

According to the New Zealand coach Gary Stead, the team wanted to play Milne in the fixture against Pakistan but delay in the clearance from the ICC caused some confusion. Speaking on his possible participation in the match, Milne believed that he would have been able to add something to the team.

"I think I would have been able to add something to the team, but it wasn't meant to be, and I thought our guys bowled really well and unfortunately for us, they came out and batted really well towards that end part of the game,” he said.

Milne has had his struggles with injuries over the years, but has been in good form in white-ball cricket. He had bagged 12 wickets from eight matches in The Hundred, where he was the joint highest wicket taker. In the IPL 2021 second half in the UAE, Milne picked three wickets in four matches. According to him, the pace bowlers have been able to hit the wicket hard and create some uneven bounce on the surfaces.

"I think if you'd looked at the way the pitch played throughout the course of the IPL (Indian Premier League), the faster guys that had been able to hit the wicket hard and create some uneven bounce had caused some problems for the batters,” Milne said..

New Zealand will take on India India at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday, October 31.