‘Gift of talent married with hunger to improve’ – Kane Williamson on Virat Kohli’s growth from his U19 days

Kane Williamson, the New Zealand captain, shares a healthy camaraderie with Virat Kohli and has always lavished praises on his Indian counterpart. After having playing alongside him since their U19 days, Kane seems to have known the Indian skipper upside down. Recalling the early days, The Black Caps’ skipper felt that it wouldn’t take much time for Kohli to break into the international arena.

In the same year when Kohli led India U19 to glory in the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, he made his India debut in Sri Lanka. After finding his feet in ODI and T20I cricket, the Delhi-born had to strain a wee bit to stamp his authority in Tests. But once he got the measure of the format, there was no stopping him. Williamson said how Kohli has been raising the bar as his career has gone by.

We are fortunate to play against each other: Kane Williamson

“You can say that it was only a matter of time before he was making some strong inroads to the full international scene. At the moment, leading the way in cricket and setting the standard as a batter and breaking all these records,” Williamson was quoted as saying in Star Sports’ show Cricket Connected.

Kane said that Kohli has turned into a matured character and has become a good decision maker as well. He said the apart from his talent, Kohli’s drive and hunger to scale new heights have also worked wonders for him.

“A lot of that probably has to come down to his maturity, his ability to make very good decisions. Not only is he gifted with his ability and his natural ability, but you’re marrying that up with this constant drive and hunger to improve and just be better day in and day out,” Kane mentioned.

After having honed his skills alongside Virat for over a decade, Kane sounded privileged. “Yeah, we are fortunate to play against each other, it’s been great to meet at a young age and follow his progress and journey,” the Tauranga-born Williamson added.

Even Kohli has praised for Williamson for his humble character. Virat is currently the only batsman with an average over 50 in all forms of international cricket.