Kane Williamson Focuses On Combating Virat Kohli

Ahead of the five-match ODI series beginning in Napier on Wednesday, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson heaped praise on his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli. Williamson admired Kohli's batting prowess and the way he is redefining international cricket. Virat Kohli on Tuesday created history by becoming the first cricketer in history to bag all the three ICC awards -- the ICC Cricketer of the Year, ICC Test Cricketer of the Year, and ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year -- besides being named the captain for both the ODI and Test teams of the year.

"He's always a challenge to come up against and is someone who is most admired in terms of how he goes about his cricket and he's formidable in his run scoring so he's definitely a player of note to try to shut down," Williamson said.

Kohli in return also praised Kane Williamson and the way he has led the Kiwis following taking over the reign of captaincy from Brendon McCullum.

"He is always going to be a solid player for NZ purely because of what all he has done over the years in all three formats," Kohli said.

Kohli also picked Ross Taylor alongside Williamson who poses a challenge to the Indian bowling attack in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah.

"Kane will be a factor but at the same time Rosco (Taylor) and other guys as well. You can't take anyone for granted and their batting revolves around Kane and Ross in ODIs especially, the other guys bat around them and we are aware of that and working on our plans," Kohli added.

(With PTI inputs)