New Zealand's stand-in captain Nick Kelly said on Saturday that he enjoyed his sudden captaincy stint in the three-match T20I series against Bangladesh.
Kelly, who was asked to lead the side in Tom Latham's absence due to a toe injury, led his side to a 1-1 series draw with the visitors sealing a six-wicket win in a do-or-die 3rd T20I at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Saturday (May 2).
"I have loved it. I think when I got on the plane to come over here, it (captaincy) was definitely not something I'd even thought about at all," Kelly said after the series concluding game.
"Obviously it is a shame for Tom. To get the chance to lead my country in two T20Is was a massive honour. I may never get to do it again. So I'm just trying to suck it up and [I] really enjoyed it," he said.
Kelly said that levelling the series against Bangladesh would be a huge confidence booster for the visitors as most of their first-choice players were unavailable.
The New Zealanders arrived in Dhaka without 18 of their top players as they were all busy in the IPL and PSL, and according to the captain, it helped build their squad depth.
"I think this time of year especially with those two big tournaments, there's always going to be guys who are given the freedom to play in those leagues, which I think is great. It just builds depth. So it was a little bit of a niggly situation managing those guys in and out. But it's just great to give younger guys or more inexperienced guys opportunities to play international cricket," said Kelly.
"I think it's just taking opportunities on tours like this. The opportunities could be few and far between but the only thing you can really do is keep performing domestically and then when you do get your chance internationally, you've got to take it because those opportunities might be small," he said.
"There are a few guys here who put their hand up and when there is a next tour and there might only be a couple of spots available, I think all you can do is, when you do get a shot, score runs and take wickets. And I think there's been a couple of guys who have done that," he said.
Kelly added that he was impressed with Josh Clarkson and Bevon Jacobs as the duo helped them end the tour with their head held high.
Bevon Jacobs struck a breezy unbeaten 62 off 31 balls after Josh Clarkson led the bowling effort with 3 for 9 to help New Zealand dismiss Bangladesh for 102 runs in 14.2 overs after the match was reduced to 15 overs due to rain.
"I think we spoke quite a bit about the last game, the areas we got wrong or maybe didn't quite hit the mark on, and I think a big part of that was our death bowling. And I thought Josh was exceptional there. His plans were very clear and he executed beautifully," said Kelly.
"Bev [Jacobs] is a very, very clean ball striker. We see him in the nets training very hard. He hits the ball a long way. It was cool for him to get himself in and then cool to see a bit of power at the end there. It was nice to get the win that way, and see those two guys (Jacobs and Dean Foxcroft) through the middle navigate obviously a pretty tough period," he said.
"I think it puts a bit of pressure on the guys who were previously in the team. They are there for a reason. But I think it also just builds great depth. There's going to be times when those guys are unavailable again for injury or for whatever reason, and then when the guys who come in and play these types of tours they've got the confidence that they've done it before," he concluded.
