Rohit & Co’s toughest challenge: How to hate the nice guys from New Zealand | Cricket News

“It is tough to hate them, be angry at them. Imagine, this was their historic win but the celebrations were so mild. No shouting or sledging, no fuss. They shook hands with us and just moved to their dressing room. Had it been Australia or England …”, the frustrated voice would trail and fade.

If killing with kindness was an art, the congenial cricketers from the earth’s extreme outpost have mastered it. Of late, India has gotten defanged by these silent, disarming, almost self-deprecating, opponents at important events – most painfully the ICC World Test Championship final in 2021 and the 50-over World Cup semi-final in 2019.

On Sunday, they meet again in the ICC Champions Trophy final in Dubai. As conceded by the dejected India player, India would hope to get angry. Not that easy, as they need to hate a team that doesn’t instigate or insult. India needs to search for the devil in mild-mannered soft-spoken men with angelic faces. And anyone who vaguely knows the modest-to-a-fault captain Mitchell Santner or the equally self-effacing senior pro Kane Williamson will tell you it is tough to paint them as villains.

New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra (SECOND FROM LEFT) celebrates the wicket of South Africa’s Aiden Markram with teammates like Mitchell Santner (LEFT) during the ICC Champions Trophy semi-final cricket match at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. (AP Photo)

Not just the two, the Kiwis, in general, are among the most popular cricketers on the IPL circuit too – the truly global annual T20 jamboree. Owners find them the least problematic and most accommodative. Their teammates say they are the most giving.

It has taken New Zealand years to build this ‘nice guys’ reputation and for that, they need to thank the fine ambassadors that have visited these shores over the years.

Richard Hadlee was a friend and mentor to Kapil Dev, it didn’t matter if the two were involved in the race to be the highest Test wicket-taker. New Zealand’s most gifted batsman ever, Martin Crowe would talk fondly about the time he spent and the tips he got from batting legend Sunil Gavaskar during his county days.

One of our own

However, it was at the start of this century when India got a chance to know a New Zealander much better. It so happened that a farmer’s son, an international cricketer with a modest record, was made India’s first-ever national coach. He was John Wright. This was the time when Indian cricket was limping back to normalcy after the body blow of the match-fixing scandal.

Wright was a simple man with a sharp mind. He too had that typical Kiwi disarming ‘bechara look’ that Santner and Williamson have. He was unlike the other ‘white men’ India had dealt with – the English and Australians.

He was firm but not authoritative. He didn’t behave like a superior being, didn’t consider himself as god’s gift air-dropped to the Third World for educating the natives. India’s archaic system did frustrate him but he was ready to work around it. Wright introduced India to modern cricket and made Sourav Ganguly’s boys world-beaters, but you would never hear that from him.

South Africa’s David Miller,, fourth left, is congratulated by New Zealand’s Michael Bracewell on finishing his century during the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal cricket match between New Zealand and South Africa at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Wright’s integration into the Indian system was like that old story about the arrival of the Parsis. Like sugar in milk, Wright remained invisible but spread sweetness. In contrast, Aussie coach Greg Chappell’s Indian sojourn was like chocolate mixed with milk. It changed the colour of the team and left a bitter-sweet taste.

Wright would return as the Mumbai Indians talent scout and would do the country another massive favour. He mined a raw diamond, Jasprit Bumrah, who would get polished into a kohinoor.

Another silent cricketing Dronacharya would make Chennai Super Kings his home. Stephen Fleming, too, had the same ‘bechara’ disarming look. He too was a cool calculating feline, a predator in sheep’s clothing. Fleming continues to be MS Dhoni’s robust sounding board.

Like Wright didn’t mind Sourav Ganguly getting all the credit for the team’s success, Fleming is happy to be consigliere to the Godfather, the Thala.

It is their consistent civility that makes the Kiwis endearing. It’s what has made India sub-consciously develop a fondness for the cricketers from the peaceful paradise at the corner of the earth.

One cricket tour to New Zealand is enough to get introduced to the friendly community that, as a habit, downplays its achievements. The most famous Kiwi, Edmund Hillary, climbed Mt Everest but never failed to give credit to his sherpa, Tenzing Norgay. This gets reflected in everyday life. Even the famous New Zealand woollens come with a Ba-code – scan it to get a picture of the sheep responsible for the warmth you are getting. No one steals anybody’s thunder. Everyone’s effort gets acknowledged.

Shangri-La in Pacific Ocean

There is a distinct air of casualness on the streets where kids are encouraged to walk bare feet. Christchurch comes across as a quaint make-believe world. Kids playing frisbee in soft sunlight on neatly manicured lawns; a well-fed dog jumping around as his owner reads a book on an easy chair, old couples sitting in street-side cafes waving to tourists in flower-decked trams.

The world looks at the tiny Pacific island as a utopia. “Let’s move to New Zealand” – is now a pet phrase for those disgusted with their own country and looking for new beginnings. Reports say that when Donald Trump came to power, enquiries in the USA about migration to New Zealand in America went up by 2000 percent.

New Zealand’s players pose for photo with trophy after winning the tri-series final against Pakistan, in Karachi, Pakistan. (AP)

New Zealand’s appeal is its friendly people. It’s a chatty place where strangers indulge in small talk for hours. A plumber fixing a leaking tap at the prime minister’s residence can get asked to stay back for a cup of tea.

On the 2009 tour to New Zealand, one lazy afternoon, the team manager explained the Kiwi knack to innovation and being hands on. He said that when you have so few people and such large swathes of farmland, there will be isolation and thus innovation. For them, DIY isn’t a superstore but a way of life.

The manager went on to narrate his dressing room’s work distribution. Batsman Grant Elliott kept the dressing room litter-free, pacer Ian Butler was the team’s transport in-charge, Martin Guptill was given the duty of taking care of the national flag. Everyone had a non-cricketing responsibility. It was this upbringing that kept the cricketers grounded. Thankfully, the IPL riches have failed to corrupt the Kiwi DNA.

In this social media-obsessed world where once-scoffed human traits of self-promotion and bragging are getting increasingly legitimised, the Kiwis still stick to old human values. Rohit Sharma and his boys have their task cut out. There is so much to like about the Kiwis that it gets impossible to hate them.

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