Shastri was part of the Indian dressing room when India came out second best against New Zealand in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 semi-final as well as the ICC World Test Championship Final two years later.
He added, “Similarly with their batting, you know, they might lose two or three wickets early, but there’s someone or the other who’ll come, they’ll stitch a partnership together, they’ll run hard between the wickets and then be explosive towards the end.
“It’s a side that comes extremely well prepared, you know, for the conditions and they adapt very well. And off late, I think they’ve started touring very well too, especially in the subcontinent.”
New Zealand will square off against South Africa in the first semi-final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 on Wednesday, March 4 at the Eden Gardens.