Kane Williamson's captaincy achievements in 2018 eclipse Virat Kohli and others

Kane Williamson is one of the members of the elite club called ‘fab four’ with the other three being Steve Smith, Joe Root, and Virat Kohli. As far as exploits on the cricket fields are concerned, there is not a daylight difference between these four. All these players have led their national teams at some point and do their task with utmost aplomb more often than not.

One notable difference that catches the eyes every now and then is the amount of attention each player get. While Kohli, arguably the poster-boy of the game, Smith and Root garner their share of attention, Williamson is a tad behind his contemporaries in this regard.

It, however, does not affect his on-field performance as the New Zealander continues to lead the team by example. The soon-to-be concluded 2018 calendar year is a perfect example of how Williamson has been silently doing his work as a batsman and as the skipper.

Williamson and New Zealand’s success in 2018

New Zealand started the year with a bang. The Black Caps inflicted a rare 5-0 ODI series whitewash over reigning Champions Trophy champions Pakistan in January. It was New Zealand’s first 5-0 clean sweep over Pakistan and the latter’s only third defeat by such margin in ODIs.

It was followed by yet another memorable result as Kane & Co. beat England in a Test series in March. It was New Zealand’s first Test series victory over England since 1999 – and just their second ever at home. Their only other victory came in 1983-84.

Williamson then flew out to India for the Indian Premier League where a major task was awaiting him. He was given the responsibility of leading Sunrisers Hyderabad in absence of David Warner who was serving the 12-month ban for the ball-tampering scandal. And it is safe to say that, Williamson came out of the test with flying colours. He finished the season as the highest run-scorer and led his side to the final where they were beaten by Chennai Super Kings.

And the year just ended in the best possible manner for Williamson as well as his side. Led by their skipper’s stoic ton in the third Test at Abu Dhabi, New Zealand beat Pakistan by 123 runs to win the series 2-1. It is the team’s first away series win over Pakistan in Tests. New Zealand’s last away series win against Pakistan was a 1-0 victory in matches played in Pakistan in 1969.

As far as Williamson’s batting record this year is concerned, it is equally impressive. In 11 ODIs, he amassed 468 runs at an average of nearly 47 including 2 centuries and a fifty. In Tests, he scored 510 runs in 5 games at an average of over 63 while in T20Is, he scored 251.

The aforementioned achievements make it pretty clear that Williamson is not too far behind from the other three members of the fab four in terms of achievements both as captain and batsman. However, there is absolutely no denying that he deserves more when it comes to attention he has been honoured with.

~Written by Bijoy

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