New Delhi. Kane Williamson has relinquished the Test captaincy of the New Zealand team. On Thursday, it has been informed by the New Zealand Cricket Board that Kane Williamson will no longer be the captain of New Zealand in Test cricket. Team Southee has been assigned this responsibility in his place. Southee will take over this responsibility in the upcoming Test series against Pakistan.
However, Kane Williamson will continue to captain the team in the ODI and T20I formats. This year, Kane Williamson is the third big player who has left the captaincy of Test cricket. Earlier, big players like Virat Kohli and Joe Root have left the Test captaincy.
Williamson became the captain of the New Zealand Test team in the year 2016. Under his captaincy, New Zealand played 40 Test matches, winning 22, losing 10 and drawing 8. His biggest achievement as a captain was to become the champion of the first World Test Championship by defeating Team India.
According to Williamson, Test format is the best format of cricket. I enjoyed the challenge of leading the team in this format. He further said that captaincy increases the workload in the career and I think it is time to take the right decision at this stage of the career.
Tim Southee got the responsibility
Fast bowler Tim Southee has got this responsibility in place of Kane Williamson. Talking about Southee, he has captained the team in 22 T20Is between 2017-21, he will lead the Test team on the tour of Pakistan. On this occasion, Southee said, “‘It is an honor to be appointed as the Test captain. I love Test cricket. It is a big challenge and I am looking forward to leading the team in this format of cricket.