Published: Apr 18, 2016, 12:56 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 28, 2016, 08:37 AM (IST)
New Zealand‘s current skipper Kane Williamson said that former skipper and Kiwi legend Brendon McCullum played a huge role to play in New Zealand cricket’s approach towards the game. Williamson is currently playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 while McCullum represents Gujarat Lions (GL) in the same league. While talking about New Zealand’s journey in ICC World T20 2016, Williamson mentioned that it has been a ‘privilege’ to play alongside him. New Zealand did exceptionally well in ICC World T20 (WT20) under new captain Williamson, remaining unbeaten in the Super 10 round but eventually got out of the competition losing in the semi-final to England. READ: Brendon McCullum, Kane Williamson, Steven Smith among others named as Wisden’s cricketers of the year
Talking to The Times of India, Williamson said, “Baz (McCullum) has had a huge role to play on the 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 as a team as well.”
He also talked about taking over captaincy from McCullum and his experience during WT20. “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 semifinals 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.”
