Blackcaps skipper Kane Williamson is frustrated by his team's sub-par performance, after their Twenty20 World Cup dream ended with defeat to Pakistan in the semi-finals.
The loss means New Zealand will return home without a trophy from a fifth straight white-ball World Cup, despite reaching at least the semi-finals in all of them.
Williamson feels their total of 152/4 at the Sydney Cricket Ground was a winning position, but Pakistan put 105 runs on the board before they lost their first batsman and romped to a seven-wicket win.
"The journey in this tournament has been a lot of good, but it's just frustrating not to put out a better performance today," he said. "If you get beaten playing your best cricket, then you certainly have to accept that.
"Today was a little bit disappointing. There were some good bits, but we thought we had a defendable total, if we were to be on our game."
Now 32 years old and more than 12 years into his international career, Williamson will have a good think about how much he would feature for New Zealand in the future.
"I certainly love playing in all the formats, but there's a lot of cricket, so that needs to be managed a little bit," he said. "It's a changing landscape with players all round the world at the moment and we've seen it in our camp as well.
"After these sorts of events, you sit down and give yourself a chance to reflect, and look at what's coming up."
Earlier this year, teammate Trent Boult opted out of his central contract with NZ Cricket, and will only feature in select series and tournaments for the Blackcaps, choosing to prioritise T20 franchise cricket to allow him more time with his family.
Allrounder Colin De Grandhomme retired altogether from international cricket, but will continue playing T20 for the Big Bash League's Adelaide Strikers.
Despite being the second-highest runscorer in the team, Williamson's performances during the tournament have come under some scrutiny, due to his strike rate. His run-a-ball 40 in the defeat to England was the catalyst for that discussion, although he responded with a 35-ball 61 against Ireland.
In the semi-final, he tallied 46 off 42 balls, but came unstuck, as he tried to accelerate the run rate, with just two boundaries to his name.
New Zealand were bidding to reach a second successive T20 World Cup final, after their loss to Australia at Abu Dhabi last year, which came after successive defeats in the finals of the 2015 and 2019 World Cups in the one-day format.
Asked about again failing to get his hands on any silverware, Williamson has reverted to his focus on performance.
"You're always looking at the performance, and we've played in a number of different finals and put out really good performances, probably good enough to win," he said. "Then we've got beat by a side that's played a little bit better or about equal.
"The frustrating part of this today is we weren't quite on top of our game. We fought hard, and we showed some good characteristics and attitudes we want to see, but it wasn't to be.
"You play a number of tournaments, you want to win some, but you finish the tournament and you just start focusing on the next one."
Their next opportunity for silverware will be at next year's ODI World Cup in India.
Pakistan's previously misfiring opening pair of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan chose the semi-final to roar back into form.
Neither of them managed a fifty in the Super 12 matches and Babar's strike rate of 61.90 prompted demands to vacate the opener's slot for a more attacking Mohammad Haris.
Pakistan's bowlers and middle order carried them into the last four, but Babar and Rizwan regained their mojo just in time to put them one victory away from a second T20 World Cup title.
After just one 50-plus stand in the previous five matches, Babar and Rizwan forged a 105-run partnership to set up Pakistan's victory.
"Such up and down in form is part and parcel of the game, every player goes through such phases," Babar said. "I could not perform well in the first three matches, but it could not shake my believe in myself.
"My teammates also kept their faith in me."
Babar, 28, appeared to have luck on his side too. He could have been dismissed for a golden duck, but New Zealand wicketkeeper Devon Conway floored a tough catch diving to his right.
The elegant righthander raced to a 38-ball fifty, smashing seven boundaries in his fluent 53, before holing out in the deep. Rizwan was also caught in the deep, after making 57 and putting Pakistan on the brink of their victory.
Pakistan will face either India or England in Sunday's final at Melbourne.
Reuters/Newshub
