Chennai, Feb 17 (IANS) Stand-in captain Daryl Mitchell lauded New Zealand’s depth after the Black Caps cruised to an eight-wicket win over Canada at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, securing their spot in the Super 8s.

Chasing 174, New Zealand recovered from an early wobble at 30/2, with Glenn Phillips’ 76 not out and Rachin Ravindra’s unbeaten 59 anchoring a match-winning partnership of more than 100 runs.

On the early dismissals of Finn Allen and Tim Seifert, Daryl, who stood as captain in place of Mitchell Santner, said, “We back everyone in the side. We obviously got the Bash Brothers up top who do their thing. It’s the nature of, I guess, how we try to line up with our team is that we know we bat really deep and everyone can get the job done on the day.”

Daryl also praised Canada’s 19-year-old Yuvraj Samra, who scored 110 to power Canada to 173/4.

“He played beautifully and I think, yeah, on that surface, which looked like a pretty nice pitch to keep them to 170 when a guy gets 110, it was a great effort by our boys. But I take my hat off to him. He played really well,” Mitchell said.

Commenting on the pitch and the atmosphere, he added, “I thought it was a great pitch. I love playing here at Chepauk. Obviously, a number of us have been a part of the CSK family here as well over our time. So yeah, we love playing in front of these crowds.”

On Santner’s fitness, he noted, “He’s obviously felt a bit poor, but he seems to be improving as the day goes on. But yeah, I think he’ll be fine for the next one, I’m sure.”

Looking ahead to the Super 8s, Mitchell said, “Really excited to get to Colombo tomorrow now and prepare for the Super 8s. It’s the first box ticked off that we wanted to achieve in this tournament. And now we’ll look forward to the upcoming games.”

New Zealand’s emphatic chase, powered by a brutal middle-order partnership, reinforced their standing as one of the tournament’s favourites, bouncing back strongly from their loss to South Africa.

–IANS

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