I Thought I Had Dropped The WTC Title: Tim Southee On Dropping Rishabh Pant During India's 2nd Innings

New Zealand seamer Tim Southee has admitted that he felt he had dropped the World Test Championship title when he dropped the swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant during the initial phase of his innings.

Rishabh Pant was batting on five on the sixth morning of the World Test Championship final when he edged Kyle Jamieson to the slip-cordon.

However, Tim Southee failed to latch on what was a regulation catch to give Pant and India a much-needed reprieve. India were 4/82 at the time with a slender lead of 50.

Southee, however, had to quickly shrug off the disappointment as he was scheduled to bowl the following over.

”I’d be lying if it didn’t go through my head. Just because of the nature of the way that Pant played,” Tim Southee said during the Matt and Jerry show.

‘’He can take the game away from you in the space of five or six overs. So what was already in a tight game there were some demons thrown around inside my head. But I had to drop those as I bowled the next over. You’ve just got to suck it up and move on. But I was very relieved when Pant was out,” Southee added.

‘’It was a horrible feeling. Probably the worst feeling for a cricketer when you drop a catch, you feel like you’re letting your mates down,” Southee said.

Rishabh Pant, however, failed to make the most of the opportunity as he top-edged Trent Boult after the Lunch break when he was on 41.

Pant’s wickets triggered another Indian collapse as the Virat Kohli-led outfit was eventually knocked over for 170 with a meager lead of 138.

New Zealand proceeded to chase down the total in the final hour of the sixth day thanks to a brilliant unbeaten stand between skipper Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor.

Asked whether Tim Southee thought that New Zealand will end up winning the inaugural WTC when the cycle started in August 2019, the veteran seamer said-

“No, two years ago we lost our first test to Sri Lanka but like any world event you hope in entering it that you’re there in the end. We played some pretty good cricket along the way and we managed to find ourselves in the last two with a bit of luck along the way as well.” 

Barring that dropped catch, Tim Southee had a pretty outing in the second innings as he claimed four crucial wickets including that of a dangerous-looking Rohit Sharma.

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