India's Virat Kohli with New Zealand's Kane Williamson during the recently-concluded WTC Final. (Twitter) Kane Williamson, the captain of New Zealand, opened up about his personal relationship with India skipper Virat Kohli after his post-match hug with his counterpart in the ICC World Test Championship final did rounds on social media.
The 30-year-old Williamson guided his team to a historic win by eight wickets, chasing a target of 139 on the reserve day of the summit clash. The New Zealand skipper went on to hug Kohli after Ross Taylor scored the winning runs.
Virat Kohli congratulating Kane Williamson after the WTC final win. pic.twitter.com/yct3sSNoUt
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) June 23, 2021
In an interview with Cricbuzz, Williamson revisited the moment and said, “That was a great moment. We knew anytime you play against India, wherever you are, it’s an incredibly tough challenge. They often set the benchmark in our game in all formats. They show that with the depth that they have and their cricket as well.”
“And the friendship with Virat stems back a number of years and a number of sorts of different times. And it was cool. We always know that there’s a bigger picture to it all. It was a really nice moment and our friendship and relationship are deeper than a game of cricket. And we both know that,” he further added.
In a rain-affected contest, India were restricted to a low score of 217 runs in their first innings. Although Kohli and his men managed to bowl out New Zealand on 249 runs in reply, they failed to put up a challenging target for their opposition. The Williamson-led side bundled out India on 170 in the second innings.
Williamson said it was a high-pressure, competitive match.
“Both teams were very competitive and played really hard and the game was so close. I know the end result tells you one thing. Throughout the match, it felt like it was on a knife’s edge and you had full respect for that,” he said.
“At the end of it, after a tough match, there’s an appreciation by both teams. Someone gets the trophy, and a team perhaps doesn’t get the fortune to have that.”
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