Williamson uncertain about his future in T20Is following NZ’s World Cup exit

PTI, Jun 18, 2024, 11:58 AM IST

Credit: PTI

Tarouba (Trinidad): New Zealand will require some time to regroup after their shock early exit from the T20 World Cup, said skipper Kane Williamson, who was non-committal regarding his return for the 2026 edition of the marquee event.

An all-format player who is considered one of the greats of modern day cricket, Williamson has been the BlackCaps batting mainstay for over a decade.

New Zealand reached three finals with Williamson in the side — the 2015 and 2019 ODI World Cups, the 2021 T20 World Cup and the inaugural World Test Championship final, which they won. Williamson led the BlackCaps in three of those four tournaments.

“When asked if he’d return for the 2026 edition, Williamson said: “Oh, I don’t know.”

New Zealand’s campaign ended with a facile seven-wicket win over minnows Papua New Guinea. They finished outside of the semifinals for the first time in 10 years. Pace spearhead Trent Boult has already confirmed that the ongoing T20 World Cup was his last.

“There’s a bit of time between now and then, so it’s regrouping as a side. And yeah, we’ve sort of got red ball cricket over the next year basically.

“So yeah, it’s back into some international other formats and yeah, see where things land,” he added.

On New Zealand’s short campaign at the T20 Word Cup, the 34-year-old said “I think no matter what happens, you’re always want to do more.

“But it’s been really unique, a unique experience for all the guys. The conditions have been challenging I think for batters all around, but it’s just about trying to find a way.”

New Zealand were the last team to kickstart their campaign. They were out of contention for the Super Eights within the space of four days, courtesy back-to-back losses to Afghanistan and West Indies.

“It took a long time to start, and then in a matter of days, we were sort of not in contention, which was frustrating. We wanted to start the campaign strong, and we weren’t able to do that,” Williamson said.

“We played against a couple of very strong sides who are very well equipped in these conditions and unfortunately it was the difference in our first two games and then some decent cricket in the last two, so all in all frustrating.

“But I think the learnings for certainly players that come back, perhaps to this part of the world or in some of these conditions, they’ve been somewhat challenging and so some good experiences to have going forward,” he added.