NZ vs PAK: Kane Williamson Breaks Stephen Fleming's Record, Becomes New Zealand's Leading Scorer In World Cup History

Kane Williamson, on Saturday (November 4), made his much-awaited return to New Zealand’s playing eleven for their crucial clash against Pakistan in the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.

He missed the first two games of his team because he was not yet match-fit after recovering from the ACL injury he sustained in an IPL match in March of this year. In his absence, New Zealand thrashed defending champions England by 9 wickets before beating the Netherlands by 99 runs. He finally made his much-anticipated return to action for the game against Bangladesh and hit the ground running.

In his comeback game, the New Zealand skipper scored 78 before sustaining a thumb injury that sidelined him once again. He took a blow on his thumb from a throw while completing a run and scans later revealed that the star batsman had suffered a fracture. The fractured thumb forced him to miss his team’s next 4 games as well.

Kane Williamson creates history:

Playing without their talismanic captain, New Zealand suffered three defeats in a row to find themselves in a spot of bother. The ongoing game against Pakistan is pretty much a do-or-die game for them and Kane Williamson made a timely return to action.

And the way he returned to action, not many would say that he was sidelined for so long. The right-handed batsman played a brilliant knock of 95 runs and shared a big stand of 180 runs with Rachin Ravindra for the second wicket to put his team in the driver’s seat after Pakistan won the toss and opted to bowl first.

During the knock, Kane Williamson also scripted history as he broke the record for most runs by a New Zealand player in an ODI World Cup. He also became just the third player from his country to reach the 1000-run mark in the ODI World Cup. The record was previously held by former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming who scored 1075 runs.

The 95-run knock saw Kane Williamson finish his innings against Pakistan with 1084 World Cup runs. Ross Taylor is third in the list with 1002 runs followed by Martin Guptill (995 runs) and Scott Styris (909 runs).