‘One of the better bowling attacks’ - Kane Williamson gears up for Afghanistan challenge

New Zealand are all set to kick off their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign by taking on Afghanistan. Both sides will face off at the Providence Stadium in Guyana in the 14th game of the tournament on Saturday, June 8. The clash will be the Black Caps’ first of the tournament, and they will aim to get off to a good start. 

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson recently came forward to talk about how Afghanistan is a side that they will not be taking lightly at all and will aim to give their best against. 

Furthermore, Williamson lauded Afghanistan as one of the better-bowling-minded sides in the tournament and how skilled their team has been over the last few years. 

"Certainly a number of players in their side... I mean, all of the players, to be honest, they have such a skillful team, one of the better bowling attacks, I think, in the competition," Williamson was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz. 

"And we've seen that in franchise competitions, the involvement, the number of Afghani players. And they're getting better and better, they're getting more and more top-level cricket. And we saw at the last World Cup how strong they were in the ODI format too. So, a really highly skilled team and a number of threats,” he added.

It's just the nature of the beast: Williamson

It is worth noting that Williamson comes into the T20 World Cup after not having played much T20 cricket. His last T20I came against Pakistan in January 2024, before he got injured. He also did not feature much for Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2024 as well.

"Yeah. I mean, it's just the nature of the beast. I've been involved in a few IPLs now and sometimes play more, sometimes play less, And the balance of overseas players has a lot to do with that. And so, from my perspective, it's just trying to help the team as much as I can and then put quite a bit of time into some of the fitness side of things and other parts of your game,” Williamson said.