Kane Williamson Within Touching Distance Of Displacing Virat Kohli As Best Test Batsman
Kane Williamson’s unbeaten double-hundred against Bangladesh in Hamilton has helped him join an elite club. The New Zealand skipper’s knock helped the Black Caps thrash the visitors by an innings and 52 runs. Apart from Williamson, Tom Latham and Jeet Raval had scored centuries too, helping New Zealand pile up a mammoth total of 715 for 6. In reply, Bangladesh, who had managed just 234 runs in the first innings, came up with a fighting effort in the second but were all out for 429.
The knock, nonetheless, has not only helped Williamson bolster his second spot in the ICC Test rankings by has also propelled him to a career-high 915 points in the ICC rankings.
Before the start of the game, Kane Williamson was on 897 points. The knock helped him become only the second New Zealander to cross 900 points in the rankings. The first New Zealand to achieve the feat was the legendary Richard Hadlee, who had reached 909 points among the bowlers. The 915 points Williamson currently has are also the highest ever for a New Zealander in Test cricket.
Williamson now has a chance of displacing India skipper Virat Kohli from the number one spot in ICC Test Rankings. Kohli currently leads the list with 922 points. Williamson was briefly number one in late 2015. With two more Tests left against Bangladesh, Williamson will back himself to reclaim the top-spot once again. In case, he does so, he is likely to remain there for at least till July as India and no other country is going to play any Test before the upcoming World Cup. India’s next Test assignment is against Windies which will take place after the World Cup.
Meanwhile, apart from Kane Williamson, several other batsmen from New Zealand and Bangladesh made significant gains in the rankings. Latham, who scored 161, has moved up to No. 11 among batsmen, while Raval has gone to No. 33 after hitting his maiden Test century.
For Bangladesh, their opener Tamim Iqbal, who scored 126 and 74, and Mahmudullah and Soumya Sarkar, who hit 146 and 149 respectively in the second innings , have all progressed. Tamim has moved to number 25 while Mahmudullah and Sarkar have moved to number 40 and number 67 respectively.
