The last time Will Young played for the Black Caps in the Indian subcontinent, he was walking off with the player of the series trophy back in 2024 when New Zealand shocked India 0-3 in a Test series which has gone down in infamy when it comes to the hosts’ form in the longest format. Young is now back with a new look Kiwi side, said that it was his best performance in the longest format. “You’d have to put it right at the top, yeah,” he told the media here at the Baroda Cricket Association Stadium.
Since then, India have struck back in the ODI format when the Rohit Sharma-led team defeated New Zealand in the final of the Champions Trophy last year. Young, however, there are no thoughts of avenging the loss. New Zealand will play 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is against India this time around.
“It’s a completely different challenge (than) that was the Champions Trophy, they were different sides so that’s behind us. It’s not even in our minds at all, we’re excited by a three-match bilateral series in one-day cricket and when the game starts,” he said.
With the T20 World Cup just around the corner, the 3 ODIs might be lost in the greater context, feels Young. Even though the ODI format has lost a bit of sheen with the prevalence of T20Is, Young, however said, that the 50-over format still has two “world events with so much wonderful history”. He was talking about the ODI World Cup and the Champions Trophy.
“Especially with the T20 World Cup round the corner, it is easy to have the series lost in the greater context. (But) when you’re playing for your country, there should always be those two things (passion and motivation). It is a slightly different format from Test and T20 cricket, and these days you probably play a little bit less as well. But you’ve got to remember, there’s still two ICC world events — the Champions Trophy and the World Cup — which has had so much wonderful history over such a long time,” Young said.
