After guiding New Zealand to the finals of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, opening batter Daryl Mitchell said that James Neesham's quickfire knock gave the side much-needed momentum in the game.
Mitchell's unbeaten 72-run knock aided by James Neesham's quickfire cameo of 27 runs off just 11 balls helped New Zealand defeat England by five wickets to enter the final.
"The way Jimmy Neesham came out and hit the ball from get go was pretty special. He got us the momentum heading into the final overs. The rate was pretty high at that stage. Yeah very special win against England," said Mitchell.
"Any game you win for your country is pretty special. It is nice to contribute and help us get over the line. We have another big match coming up in the next two days. Pretty excited about that," he added.
Earlier, Moeen Ali and Dawid Malan played knocks of 51 and 42 respectively as England scored 166/4 against New Zealand.
"The new ball was pretty challenging on that surface. It was two-paced to start off with, it was tough to get going. Very lucky that few balls got over the ropes, I think it was hell of a game, the way England played was really special as well," said Mitchell.
"To be honest, once the rate gets high, you try to make sure that you get your matchups right. Yeah, for us, we were very lucky. For me, it was nice to hit it out of the middle, it was nice to get it done," he added.
Earlier this year, New Zealand had won the World Test Championship and not to forget, the side had also made it to the finals of the 2019 50-over World Cup final where they lost against England owing to boundary-countback rule.
"We are a bunch of Kiwis, there are just five million of us so we are proud to be representing our country. We have had some success in the last few years. We are going to enjoy the win tonight and then we move on pretty quickly. We will give it everything we have got in the finals," said Mitchell.
New Zealand will now face the winner of the second semi-final between Pakistan and Australia in the summit clash on Sunday at the Dubai International Stadium.
( With inputs from ANI )
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