New Zealand became the first team to qualify for the finals of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 after defeating England in the semi-finals by 5 wickets.
Also Read:- 5 Players who are hated by Indian Fans
It is the first time that New Zealand has reached to the finals of the ICC T20 World Cup. This time it is because of Kane Williamson’s captaincy that New Zealand have reached so far in the tournament.
Batting first, England reached to a total of 166/4 after the completion of 20 overs. Moeen Ali’s unbeaten 51 runs helped England reach to this fighting total. But Kane Williamson’s New Zealand chased the target with ease with an over left. Daryl Mitchell’s unbeaten 72 runs and Jimmy Neesham’s cameo helped NZ beat ENG by 5 wickets.
Earlier this year New Zealand also won the WTC finals against India in England. New Zealand have reached final of the last three ICC events in all formats. They lost to Australia and England in 2015 and 2019 ICC World Cup respectively. But they are one step away to win the maiden ICC T20 World Cup trophy. No doubt Kane Williamson is one of most successful captains in the history of the game.
Also Read:- Pakistan team face big problems before semi-finals !
Kane Williamson is one of best cricketers NZ has ever produced. The Kiwi is the fastest player to reach to 6000 runs in test cricket. Williamson is the youngest Kiwi to score a century. Cricket was always in his genes. His father Brett Williamson played under-17 cricket and club cricket in his days. Kane’s mother Sandra was a basketball player. His sister Anna, Sophie, and Kylie played basketball. But Kane was always interested in cricket. He played senior representative cricket at the age of 14 and first-class cricket at 16. At the age of 17, he led the under-19 New Zealand cricket team to the 2008 ‘World Cup’ semi-finals in Malaysia, where they lost to India.
He made his debut in August 2010 in a tri-series against Sri Lanka. He was named as the captain of the team across all formats in 2016. Kane was signed by SRH for the 2015 edition of IPL. However, he played his 1st IPL match in 2016. He was retained by the side for the next few years and in 2018 he was appointed as the captain of SRH. He led the team to the finals where they were defeated by CSK. Kane reached the No.1 position on the ICC World Test rankings in 2015. He became the World’s second-best batsman in 2019, just behind Indian skipper Virat Kohli.
This is the seventh edition of the ICC T20 World Cup. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and England have won the tournament once each. Only West Indies have won the tournament twice. It will be interesting to see which team faces NZ in the finals of the mega event. Australia and Pakistan will lock horns with each other in the 2nd semi-final of the tournament.
Also Read:- Babar Azam responds to Ravi Shastri’s statement on Bio-Bubbles