New Zealand veterans to retire after T20 World Cup? Kane Williamson reacts to 'end of an era' narrative

New Zealand's chance of making it to the Super 8s of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024 looks done and dusted after their loss against West Indies on Thursday (June 13).

The defeat was New Zealand's second in as many games in the ninth edition of the T20 World Cup. After suffering a humiliating 84-run defeat against Afghanistan in their first game, New Zealand ended up losing the game against West Indies by 13 runs.

New Zealand had West Indies in all sorts of trouble after reducing them to 30 for 5 and then 78 for 8. However, Sherfane Rutherford held firm from one end and scored an unbeaten fifty to take his team to a challenging total of 149 for 9. The southpaw smashed 68 runs off 39 balls with the help of two fours and six sixes. No other West Indies batter could even touch the 20-run mark.

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In reply, New Zealand started on a shaky note and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. At one stage, they were reeling at 63 for 5. They hardly looked in contention to chase down the total and eventually finished their innings on 136 for 9.

The defeat has all but ended their chances of making it to the next round. West Indies have already booked their place in the Super 8s while Afghanistan need one point from their last two games to make it to the next round.

Kane Williamson on 'end of era' discussion:

Many believe that the ongoing T20 World Cup will mark the end of an era for New Zealand. Speculations are rife that New Zealand's most successful generation won't be playing any more World Cup after the ongoing competition. The likes of Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Time Southee, and James Neesham have been playing for New Zealand for well over a decade and could finally decide to hang up their boots.

However, Williamson believes otherwise. Speaking to the reporters after the loss against West Indies, the New Zealand skipper quashed the 'end of an era' narratives, saying: "I think there's still guys that will be here for some time.

Speaking further, he opened up on what went wrong for his team in the first two games as he expressed his disappointment and frustration over the results not going New Zealand's way. He also admitted that New Zealand should 'have been better in these conditions'.

"I think if we look at the two matches to start off, no doubt they've been disappointing. You come to a world event; you want to start well. And to be honest, we needed to have been better in these conditions specifically.

"We know that it's going to be a real scrap and it's not going to be easy but if you win some small moments, matchups go your way then that can be a defining element to your whole tournament really and it hasn't happened for us which is frustrating but no doubt after tournaments like this you revisit what it is that you do and how you do it and the conditions that you've experienced and look at ways to get better," he added.