For India the biggest takeaway from their dominant series win over New Zealand was the form and consistency of KL Rahul. The opener was adjudged man of the series for his record-breaking performance. Speaking after the final match, Rahul spoke about how he spent a lot of time with Kane Williamson when they played for Sunrisers Hyderabad back in 2015-15. He also said that his game is pretty similar to the New Zealand captain and that, he loved watching Williamson go about his business. However, at the same time, he also hoped that the Kiwi skipper did not have a telling say over the upcoming ODI series or even in the IPL.
“I have spent a lot of time with Kane during 2014, 2015 when I was with Sunrisers and he was with Sunrisers. I spent a lot of time talking to him about batting. I thought we have similar styles of batting, I learnt a lot by watching him bat,” KL Rahul told reporters after the match.
“It’s a treat to watch him bat. It’s a treat to watch but hopefully, in the next 3 ODIs we don’t want to be treated to Kane’s innings.
“Hopefully, he can save it not even for IPL because he is against me. Any other series is fine.”
Kane Williamson was forced to miss New Zealand’s last two matches owing to a shoulder injury. There will be question marks over his captaincy after New Zealand suffered a 5-0 whitewash in the series which came immediately after the side was trounced in the Test series against Australia. However, he found support from Virat Kohli who heaped praise on him.
“Kane is just a great guy. Kane and I have similar mindsets, similar philosophies. It is amazing that despite being from different parts of the world, we have similar thinking and we speak the same language,” Virat Kohli said after India’s historic series win in New Zealand.
