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Every player who plays for their country in international cricket has the biggest ambition to win the World Cup. But it can be said that it is a great injustice, misfortune and pain to go without kissing the trophy won in that ambition. The 2019 World Cup is the only example in history of all those words. England and New Zealand, who defeated teams like India and Australia in the series held in England, clashed in the final. Chasing the 241/8 set by New Zealand who batted first in the match at London’s Lord’s, England scored a perfect 241 for 50 overs.
Chasing 15 runs scored by England in the super over which was held to decide the winner with the final being tied for the first time in history, New Zealand fought with all their might and scored 15/1. Especially Martin Kaptill who was trying to score 2 runs in the last ball was run out by Jos Buttler to score only 1 run. That’s when history’s biggest stupidity rule took hold. That means England scored more boundaries than New Zealand and the ICC awarded the World Cup to that team.
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Anguished:
New Zealand, on the other hand, suffered an unforgettable agony as they lost their chance to reach the World Cup through fate despite going undefeated at any venue. In that match, Sri Lanka’s umpire Kumar Dharmasena gave 5 runs instead of 4 and the result was unfavorable for New Zealand. And fans will never forget England’s selfishness in not inviting New Zealand to take a photo with the World Cup, even on humanitarian grounds.
In this case, New Zealand’s Jimmy Neesum said that it was more painful to play in the same room for the Rajasthan team in the IPL series with England’s Jos Buttler the next month after finishing the World Cup. The following is what he said in a recent interview, after taking 3 wickets in the World Cup and scoring a maximum of 13* (5) runs in the crucial Super Over.
“Staying in the same hotel room with Jos Buttler when he played in India for 2 months after that World Cup was not even a matter of courtesy in any way. But that is a minor matter. I will never forget that (World Cup defeat). I don’t think anyone can come out of such a defeat easily. It’s a part of my career that I have to accept and move on from.”
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“Because after that, whenever I’m on a show, everyone keeps asking about it for the rest of my life. It would have been perfect to finish in a different way. But it has opened some doors in different aspects. So you have to take all the good and the bad. The way that World Cup ended, it was probably the worst moment in the life of an undefeated team.”
“Continuing to move forward in life to survive it gives you the confidence to survive everything else in life. After that in the series like T20 Blast held in England, I hide everything in my mind and smile and hit some action boundaries and contribute to the team’s success. Maybe if only that World Cup hadn’t happened I’d still be happy going forward.
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Now 31 as an all-rounder I never know when I will meet my end. So I am facing every cricket series as a gift and playing it.” After that defeat, he was in the New Zealand team that lost to Australia in the T20 World Cup held in 2021. He has said that the 2019 World Cup has made him ripe enough to honestly say that there are only 335 days left for the next World Cup.
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