After displacing Virat Kohli and Steve Smith to claim the numero uno position in the ICC Men’s Test Rankings for batsmen, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson asserted that he was just trying to do the best for his team which reflected in the rankings. Williamson played a dominating knock of 129 in the first innings of the Bay Oval Test against Pakistan.
In a video posted by ICC, Williamson was heard saying, “It’s about trying to do as much as you can for the team. If you can contribute as much as you can and it can be reflected on the rankings, that’s really cool.” Kane Willamson was at the no.1 position for a brief period at the end of 2015, but either Smith or Kohli have been number one since. This year too, Smith was at the top for 313 days and Kohli for 51, before Williamson surged ahead.
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In Thursday’s year-ending update, Williamson gained 13 rating points after playing the knocks of 129 and 21 to go 11 points clear of Kohli and 13 ahead of Smith. Kohli is on paternity leave for the last three Tests of India’s ongoing series against Australia, while Smith’s MCG outing could only get him scores of zero and eight.
Elaborating the same, Kane Williamson said, “Those two (Virat Kohli and Steve Smith) players are the best. Those are the two players year and year out in all formats moving the game forward, very fortunate to play against these guys. It was a great game to be involved in. We seem to have many tight finishes against Pakistan. It is really exciting to cross the line and hunt for an opportunity for the World Test Championship.”
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For Pakistan, Fawad Alam’s valiant second-innings ton helped him to take a leap of 80 places to 102nd position while wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan’s scores of 71 and 60 have helped him advance 27 places to a career-best 47th position. Left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Afridi has moved from 35th to 33rd after grabbing four wickets in the first innings.
