Lockie Ferguson: NZ are happy to be scrappy

Lockie Ferguson

Manchester: Perennial underdogs New Zealand have reached yet another semi-final of the World Cup. Not only are the Kiwis content with that tag, they also take pride in scrapping through to victories.

The Kiwis have fought through against Bangladesh, South Africa and West Indies in the tournament. Known for playing cricket the nice way, New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson, who is joint-third on the highest list of wicket-takers with 17 scalps, said: "As a team, we definitely want to be the scrappers and the guys, who scrap for wins and not always win pretty. We pride ourselves on coming back from tough situations, scrap our way out of them and give ourselves an opportunity to win. Definitely, that's [fighting hard] going to be our attitude on Tuesday. Having been with the team for a few years now, we look forward to opportunities where we can fight and show a bit of scrap. I'm sure Tuesday will be no different," said Ferguson ahead of the semi-final against India.

Even before the players take the field here at Old Trafford on Tuesday, the contest is already being considered as an easy passage to the final for India.

Will NZ have a clinical approach on Tuesday? Ferguson replied: "I don't know if that's quite our style as Blackcaps. We're very much focusing on our controllables. I mean, it's exciting to play a semi-final, we've obviously played some good cricket to get there and had some challenges towards the end of the competition. At the same time, we feel we've played some good cricket to get to the semi-final and then it all counts on the day. We are looking forward to the challenge for sure, " he said.

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