‘Very surprising and humbling’ – Kane Williamson reacts as he trumps Steve Smith and Virat Kohli to become World’s No. 1 Test batsman
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Kane Williamson
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson climbed atop the Test batsmen’s ranking following a scintillating ton in the recently concluded Boxing Day Test. Williamson ground the Pakistan bowlers away scoring 129 off 297 balls to set up a thrilling win for the Kiwis. His ton which followed a double century against West Indies propelled him to the top of the Test batsmen’s ranking. Williamson is right now the top Test batsman of the World with 890 points to his name.
Williamson is overjoyed to have contributed for his team as he climbed to the pinnacle of the list. The flamboyant batsman asserts that it is all about contributing for the side. And the fact that a player’s efforts are reflected in the rankings fascinates the Kiwi skipper. Williamson adds that no matter what, cricket is a team game after all and the focus is on enjoying each other’s success as the team moves forward.
“It is very much trying to do as much as you can for the team. And I do see some of those individual rankings, whether it’s the bowlers or batters. They are putting in an effort in a direction that’s being driven by so many of the other players. And you can be contributing as much as you can and then it’s reflected in the ranking. And that’s really cool. But the focus is on trying to do as much as you can for your side. And you have to play as a team that that has driven to move each other forward and give it to one another and that’s where our focus is. Certainly pretty exciting time really coming into the last Test of our summer that with everything to play for,” Williamson said in a video shared by ICC.
Surprising and humbling for me to sneak up on them
Williamson was placed third at the start of the Boxing Day Test. But his consistent performance and a bad day at the office for Steve Smith saw the trans-Tasman batsmen swapped places. Williamson sneaked past both Smith and Indian captain Virat Kohli to seal the first spot. And he labels it as ‘surprising and humbling’ event for him. The Kiwi batter was all praises for Smith and Kohli as he hailed them for their consistency across formats.
“Yeah, I mean, those see players are the best, you know. So for me to sneak out perhaps in some ways is very surprising and humbling. But at the same time, I think these other rankings somewhere that quite clearly state the success of these other two. And year in, year out those two players in all formats and moving the game forward. And, you know, we’re fortunate to be playing against these guys,” he concludes.
The recent rankings also saw stand-in Indian captain Ajinkya Rahane gain five places. Rahane finished sixth on the back of a fabulous century at the MCG. While there have not been many notable shifts in the top ten, Cheteshwar Pujara lost two places following a no show at the MCG.
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Anshuman Mahapatra
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