Published 17:10 IST, July 14th 2019
World Cup: Icy cool skipper Kane Williamson achieved this unique feat against England beating Mahela Jayawardene
Williamson has surpassed former Sri Lankan great Mahela Jayawardene's tally of 548 runs on his way to this milestone. Jayawardene had achieved this feat in the 2007 edition where the Lankans had finished as runners-up losing to Australia. Meanwhile, Williamson made this record during the summit clash against hosts England.
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New Zealand will be hoping to go one better against England in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 final at Lord's on Sunday. The Kiwis had reached the summit clash in the last edition under Brendon McCullum but faltered at the final hurdle. The Kane Williamson-led side would look to make amends this time around.
Speaking of Kane Williamson, the icy cool skipper has added yet another feather in his cap. The 28-year-old now has the most number of runs by a captain in the quadrennial event. Williamson has surpassed former Sri Lankan great Mahela Jayawardene's tally of 548 runs on his way to this milestone. Jayawardene had achieved this feat in the 2007 edition where the Lankans had finished as runners-up losing to Australia. Meanwhile, Williamson made this record during the summit clash against hosts England.
Williamson is now the fourth leading run-scorer of this tournament. He now has the opportunity to get past Rohit Sharma's 648 runs to become the leading run scorer. However, if he adds a few more runs, then he might even surpass Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar's all-time World Cup record of 673 runs.
At the same time, even English batsman Joe Root (549) has the opportunity to shatter a few records when the latter comes out to bat in the second innings.
Williamson has two centuries and two half-centuries in this competition so far at a strike rate of 76.32. Arguably, his best knock of this tournament has to be that 95-ball 67 against India in the semi-final on a difficult wicket which played a crucial role in his side getting to 239/8 in their 50 overs. What seemed like a below-par-total proved to be a match-winning one as pacers Trent Boult and Matt Henry reduced the Men In Blue to 5/3 and then 92/6 before a 116-run seventh wicket stand between Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni brought them on the cusp of victory.
In the end, Williamson's calm and composed captaincy helped the Kiwis register an 18-run win and qualify for their second straight World Cup final.
Even the netizens came forward to hail Williamson who is one of the 'Fab 4' batsmen of modern day cricket. Here are some of the tweets.
16:41 IST, July 14th 2019