You can learn a lot from Kohli: Kane Williamson

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, despite cruising to the semi-final with a spotless record has been impressed with Virat Kohli’s knock against Australia. Kohli batted beautifully, smashing 82 off just 51 balls, ensuring that the Indians made it to the semi-final. Williamson also added that there was a lot of key learning areas from the way Joe Root and Virat Kohli played their game.

“I would love to do that. They (Kohli and Root) have been playing brilliantly. I love both. Outstanding cricketers and they have been fantastic for a long period of time. Watching this two bat and perform in the way they have been performing, you can learn a lot,” a smiling William replied when asked if he could emulate Virat or Root with his own gem in the semi-final tomorrow.

When asked about the participation of Trent Boult and Tim Southee, Williamson said that playing with a fixed game plan was important. He also added the importance of picking the correct combination in the current conditions. “From my perspective, I am trying to do the best job I can. It is important to come up with sound game plans, execute them well, which we have done till this point,” he said.

“We are simply trying to pick horses for courses on conditions against the opposition in any given point of time. That certainly won’t change in terms of that philosophy.”

“Yeah, they are very much ready to go. We haven t decided on our side, looking closely at conditions and history I suppose of wickets produced.”

He also brushed off remarks regarding the hurt the Kiwis were feeling from the final of the 2015 World Cup. He pointed out that it is a different format and a different ball game as compared to the 50-over game.

“Australia are a very good cricket side. They beat us. That is fine as that can happen in cricket. From our perspective, we want to keep improving as a unit. Not looking too far down the track of sort of changing personalities or looking to make any drastic changes. We just want to keep taking small steps forward as a team and hope that breeds consistent improvement.

“At the same time, you can win and lose as T20 is fickle than any other format. Important to go into the game playing fearless cricket with freedom and play smart cricket as well,” the skipper said.

The Kiwi skipper also added that his side was raring to go despite facing a tough opponent in England. “We have made one final and lost. I didn’t look at it too closely. At the moment, the team is relaxed, like I say in cricket you can win or lose, that s the way it goes. In T20s, it can happen at any stage. We have been playing good cricket up until now. We are up against a very strong England side that will be trying to win the game. We are looking forward to it.”

However, Williamson also sounded skeptical when he pointed out that he would first read the conditions and pick the team only after that, especially the inclusion of senior off-spinner Nathan McCullum. “Yeah, I think we need to look at the conditions before deciding on our final side. Naturally, we have to consider the track that we are playing on and the ground size, also opposition. At this stage, we are yet to decide.”

He did consider that England holds a slight advantage having played two matches here already.

“Yeah, I suppose England have been fortunate to play in these conditions a couple of times. But look, I think in T20 cricket, anything can happen. In terms of favourites, every team is strong, coming into this tournament. Each side believed that they can go all the way and England is no different. It’s same about the other semi-final (India versus West Indies). It s an exciting occasion tomorrow night and one that the guys are looking forward to it.

“I am not surprised at all. Having played a bit of county cricket, I have seen all these guys quite a lot and know how good a player they are. When I saw the team on paper, you knew it was going to be a tough challenge. They play aggressive cricket and fearless cricket and no surprise to me that they are in the semi-finals of World Cup.”

How is the game expected to play? – World T20 2016 1st Semi-Final Preview: Kiwis wary of English threat on a batting pitch