ICC Champions Trophy 2017: 5 reasons why New Zealand didn't qualify for the semi-finals
New Zealand came into the tournament after trumping Bangladesh and Ireland in a tri-nation series. Though they lost their last match of the series to the Asian giants, everyone expected a better showing from the team from Down Under come the group stages.
Featuring in Group A alongside England, Australia and Bangladesh, the Kiwis were expected to at least put up some fight. However, ultimately, a string of poor performances and failure to capitalise on favourable situations led to their ousting from the Champions Trophy.
Here we list down five reasons why the ODI World Cup finalists didn’t make it to the last-four stage of the tournament.
#1 No support for Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor
The Blackcaps, before coming into the tournament, knew very well that their batting has to revolve around skipper Williamson. The class act that the 26-year-old is, he did not disappoint and along with a century, scored a total of 244 runs in three innings at an average of 81.33.
What stung the team though was that the second highest run-getter for them was Ross Taylor with 148 runs. Other than the both of them, no other batsman reached three figures in the tournament. This inability of Kiwi batsmen to help their premier performers and help the team reach big totals cost them a place in the semi-final.