Kane Williamson lauds McCullum's impact on New Zealand cricket

For Kiwi cricketer, Kane Williamson, captaining New Zealand in the recently concluded World T20 was a watershed. This was the first time since the 2008 U19 World Cup that the 27-year old led the Black Caps in an ICC event. He took over from the now retired Brendon McCullum, who announced his international retirement shortly after the Trans-Tasman trophy.

Speaking firstly about his experience captaining the side, Williamson said, “We had a great time at the World T20 and most importantly, we arrived here with an aim to play some very good cricket and I am happy with the way the team played. The result didn’t come our way in the semifinals, but that’s part and parcel of T20 cricket.”

“The semi-finals saw us not play our best cricket for 3-4 overs and that proved to be the difference at the end of the day. Having said that, all credit must go to England for the way they played on that day,” said

The 27-year old also opened up about the impact of McCullum in the side. He added that it was indeed a privileged to play under someone like Baz.

“Baz (McCullum) has had a huge role to play in New Zealand cricket over the years and is definitely one of the greats to have played the game. It was an absolute privilege for me to have played so many years of international cricket with him. What was extremely crucial was the team culture Baz as a skipper built alongside our coach Mike Hesson and other support staff in the last few years. Baz instilled a lot of faith and belief in our side, and that showed in the results we have had in the last few seasons. Our focus on winning and playing an entertaining brand of cricket was appreciated by all and that’s what we wanted to do as a team as well,” Williamson said.

Before concluding about his stint with the Sunrisers Hyderabad Kane said that it was difficult to leave out their two premier seamers Trent Boult and Tim Southee.

“Leaving out Tim and Trent was a tough decision to make. The conditions were such that we thought of going in with Santner and Sodhi, and they both delivered,” he said.

“Playing for SRH offers me an opportunity as a player to see other international players up close, and there is always something you would learn. That’s not all. You also get to see a lot of Indian talent up close. Also, any chance to play cricket in India is a learning experience since IPL has always produced top-quality cricket watched by a huge number of crowds,” he added.

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