Kane Williamson, like Virat Kohli, puts steady over style at WTC final

The true value of Kohli’s innings to help India reach a total of 217 stood out when his bowlers started to make the most of the conditions at Southampton on Tuesday morning. With the Indian pacers hitting the right length in testing conditions for batsmen, Williamson found runs hard to come by

Irrespective of how the World Test Championship final ends, the game will also be remembered for the batting of Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson, how they swallowed their pride as premier batsmen in world cricket to turn grafters and help hold their team’s innings together.

New Zealand's captain Kane Williamson bats during the fifth day of the World Test Championship final cricket match against India at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. (AP)

Usually known for his classical style of play, Kohli played one of his slowest knocks, hitting one boundary in his 132-ball 44, with a strike rate of only 33.33. While there were some who were not convinced the India skipper adopted the right approach by batting against his grain, Williamson adopted the same template that vindicated his counterpart’s approach.

The true value of Kohli’s innings to help India reach a total of 217 stood out when his bowlers started to make the most of the conditions at Southampton on Tuesday morning. With the Indian pacers hitting the right length in testing conditions for batsmen, Williamson found runs hard to come by.

With the Test world title at stake, the skipper displayed monk-like patience. Used to carving masterpieces, the NZ captain left all his strokes in the dressing room. The entire morning session was about leaving deliveries in the channel outside off-stump and offering a defensive bat to every ball on the stumps.

In the first session, NZ added just 34 runs in 23 overs, with Williamson 19 off 112 balls. A mark of how difficult it was out there, and how disciplined Indian bowlers were pitching the ball further up, was that he finished on 49 off 177 balls, his 27.68 strike rate slower than Kohli’s.

According to The CricViz Analyst, it was the slowest Williamson had batted up to 100 balls. “Just 15 runs from the 100 balls Kane Williamson has faced. Williamson has never scored fewer runs from the first 100 balls of a Test innings,” CricViz tweeted. It added: “Kane Williamson’s run rate this morning (0.26 rpo) was the slowest for any session (1st innings) by a top order batsmen over the last decade in Test cricket (min 40 balls faced).”

It was a brave effort. The NZ captain has been hampered by an elbow injury, which made him miss the second Test against England. He was seen batting in some discomfort in the post lunch session. But he soldiered on.

The biggest factor in the NZ innings was that Williamson was still there when the second new ball was taken in the 81st over. Mohammed Shami was in the middle of an unplayable spell but Williamson ensured he didn’t run through the side. On the fifth ball of the second new ball, he cut Shami powerfully over backward point for his third four and when he thumped the bowler to the cover fence for his sixth four, New Zealand had inched ahead of India’s total by three runs.

Williamson could not become the first batsman in the Test to get a fifty as he was caught in the slip cordon by Kohli off Ishant Sharma.

For all their success as captains, Williamson and Kohli have yet to lay their hands on an ICC Trophy. Their hunger to get this one has been seen in their effort at the crease.