Black Caps spinner Ish Sodhi has leapt to the defence of under-fire skipper Kane Williamson, calling him New Zealand’s greatest-ever player and explaining his innings’ at the Twenty20 World Cup have been crucial to the side’s success.
Williamson’s faced criticism from some fans and commentators for being too slow in his knocks at the tournament to date. The calls have only grown louder with the skipper scoring 40 off as many balls in the loss to England, following eight off 13 against Sri Lanka and a run-a-ball 23 in the opening hammering of Australia.
It’s left some to go as far as to say Williamson should be dropped from the T20 side altogether.
When asked by 1News what Sodhi made of those calls, the spinner was quick to jump in.
“Kane Williamson’s the best cricketer we’ve ever had,” he declared. “It’s unfathomable sometimes some of the heat [he gets]. I guess it comes with the territory when you’re as good as what he is.”
Across 84 T20 Internationals, Williamson averaged 32.33 with a strike rate of 122.51. He has 15 half centuries to his name but has never reached three figures.
But Sodhi’s adamant people shouldn’t just look at the numbers, but rather the context of game situations.
“I think if you look back at the performances over the last two games that we’ve had, Glenn Phillips has been playing a freakish brand of cricket,” Sodhi explains, “and what it’s allowed us to do is build partnerships.
"In the first game against Sri Lanka, Daryl Mitchell was able to play a very crucial role and he didn’t score at much more than a run a ball and I think Kane did the same in the last game.”
Sodhi believes that’s propelled them into positions where they can win.
“For partnerships to be formed, sometimes one guy needs to do a little bit of the rebuilding and so Kane getting 40 runs, I think it’s great signs that he’s hitting the ball nicely, but in terms of partnership building and moving forward, we’re in a really good place so I’m sure he’ll benefit a lot from the time he had in the middle.”
New Zealand plays Ireland in its last group match on Friday, a victory that would all but assure them a place in the semi-finals.
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