T20 World Cup: We know New Zealand is a tough opposition, says Namibia's Wiese

Namibia all-rounder David Wiese said his team is aware that New Zealand, their opponents in the Group 2 match of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup on Friday, are a tough team. He added that his team's previous experience of playing their matches at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium could help them against the Black Caps.

Namibia are placed fifth in the points table and have a win against Scotland to show apart from losses to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"We know New Zealand is a tough opposition. They've got world-class players there. And again been seen as the underdogs in the game, but we've played the games at Sharjah. Played a bit of success at Sharjah, and we think it's a wicket that could shoot our type of bowling. So we've done our prep. We've got a final training session this afternoon. We'll go there try to nail our skills," said Wiese in the pre-match press conference on Thursday.

"And T20 cricket at the end of the day, you know, one person can take the game away from the opposition. And if it's your day you can stand up and be that man of the match performance and you never know what can happen," added Wiese.


Wiese expressed pride in playing a role in Namibia being the surprise qualifiers to Super 12 from Round 1, something which was a team goal. "Performance-wise, Namibia got into the Super 12s and put in one or two big performances. And that was the main thing for me. Our main goal coming into the World Cup was to qualify for the Super 12 so we wouldn't have to play qualifications for next year's T20 World Cup, and we achieved our goal in that. To be able to play a part, even if it's just a small part in Namibia qualifying and moving forward, getting more opportunities, I'm really proud about that."

After playing against New Zealand, Namibia will face India in Dubai on Monday. Wiese termed the match-up against India in Super 12 'exciting' with an opportunity to face the best in the cricketing world. "You want to kind of not get ahead of yourself and focus on every game at a time. But from the start, when we qualified for the Super 12s, the possibility of us playing against India, it's exciting. They're a world-class team. It's going to be a big game for India leading into the phase of the tournament that we're in now. So, from the start that's a game that everybody's been looking forward to. The opportunities you get to play against the guys best in the world, face the best bowlers."

"It doesn't happen often for a team like Namibia. We're just embracing that challenge. The guys are looking forward to testing their skills out against the best in the world, whether it's on the bowling side, bowling to Rohit, Virat, KL, all those guys. Batting-wise, having to face Bumrah and having to face Ashwin, coming and bowling nice, as well as Jadeja, all those guys, they're top-class players. You never know, opportunity might come your way. You put in one or two good performances and other opportunities could come in. That's the exciting part for us playing against India on Monday - IANS