New Zealand players will ‘give it’ their all to defend World Test Championship title: Neil Wagner

Pacer Neil Wagner said that New Zealand players are ready to give it their all and play their best game in order to defend the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) title. Notably, the Kane Williamson-led side defeated India in June earlier this year to become the World Test Champions.

Wagner hopes his teammates will continue to play the same brand of cricket to make it to the final of the ongoing edition. New Zealand players know they face a tougher task, as their title defense begins this month in hostile conditions against India.

“No one can take it away from you. It’s something that’s pretty special and I’m still pretty proud of,” Wagner said in a video posted by New Zealand Cricket (NZC).

“I guess the main thing for us now is to put our heads down and try and defend it, give ourselves the best chance to play the cricket we’ve been playing – the brand we’ve been playing – and make New Zealanders proud.

“Whatever the result is, as long as we leave everything out there and give it our best, give it our all and play the way we play, the rest will take care of itself. “Hopefully, things can unfold our way, but yeah pretty confident that the crew we’ve got here is ready to get stuck in and put their hand up,” he added.

Wagner admitted that he lacks match practice but is looking forward to playing Tests in Indian conditions.

“Not the ideal preparation leading in, with COVID around at home, I haven’t been able to play any domestic cricket leading up to it. It’s a little frustrating, but it’s one of those uncontrollable factors. For now, it’s quite nice to actually hit the ground running,” Wagner said.

“It’s just about adapting to the heat, obviously trying to stay dry as much as you can and knowing that the ball’s not going to swing for very long.

“You’ve got to be quite tight on your lines and heavy on those lengths, be quite ruthless. As I said, the margin of error is quite small. It is a tough place to play, but I think everyone’s looking forward to that challenge – which is tough over here, it’s called Test cricket,” he signed off.