Strike rate, knockouts, T20Is and Kane Willamson: A question needs to be answered

New Zealand lost another knockout match in the T20I world cup. Yes, another. The Pakistan team made a massive turnaround in the T20 World Cup 2022 to beat the Kiwis in the semis finals and book their place in the final at the MCG. With this loss, New Zealand has now lost two semi-finals of the T20 World Cup since 2016. This makes everyone ask a legitimate question, is Kane Willamson the man to lead them in the shortest format of the game? We will take you through the points why New Zealand cricket fans should ask that question.

Kane Williamson is obviously one of the best batters of the modern era. However, just like Steve Smith of Australia and Joe Root of England, has lost his mojo in the shortest format of the game. Kane did well as a better T20 batter in the Indian Premier League a few seasons ago but failed to replace the David Warner factor in the team for Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Willamson was always termed as the one with the leadership quality but is yet to win any ICC trophy for New Zealand in the whiter ball format. Obviously, he has taken the team to the 2019 ICC Men's World Cup final, but his performances in the T20I format do not go hand in hand with the 50-over format.

Kane Willamson in the T20 World Cup Semi finals

Matches: 3
Runs: 83
Average: 27.66
Balls faced: 81
Strike rate: 102.46
50s: 0
100s: 0
Best: 46

This is Kane Williamson's stats in the three T20 World Cup semi-finals New Zealand played. His strike rate of 102.46 is the worst by any captain with a 50 run-cap in the semi-finals of T20 World Cups. Not only that, Williamson has the worst strike rate by a New Zealand batter who played two or more T20 Semi finals for them.

Read Also: Player of the series winners in T20 World Cup History

Kane Willamson in the T20 World Cup finals

Match: 1
Runs: 85
Average: 85
Balls faced: 48
Strike rate: 177.08

Williamson played the best inning of his T20 World Cup career in the 2021 T20 World Cup final against Australia. However, he failed to take his team home as a captain.

Kane Williamson | Overall T20 World Cup record

Matches: 25
Runs: 699
Average: 33.28
Balls faced: 614
Strike rate: 113.84
50s: 3
100s: 0
Best: 85

Kane Willamson has the third-worst strike rate in the T20 World Cup history for a player with more than 25 matches and more than 500 runs. Only Mohammad Hafeez (111.81) and Kumar Sangakkara (112.22) have the worst strike rates than him in T20 World Cup history among players with 25 or more matches and 500 or more runs in the T20 World Cup history.

Not only that, Kane Willamson has a strike rate of only 109.61 in the winning cause for New Zealand in the T20 World Cup.

Kane's best score of 85 in the 2021 T20 World Cup final also was not in a winning cause. Only one match got tied when Kane Willamson had taken the field for New Zealand in the 2012 T20 World Cup against Sri Lanka. He managed to score only 4 runs in that match.

Read Also: How quick learner Arshdeep Singh overtook contemporaries like Shivam Mavi, Nagarkoti and Ishan Porel of the 2018 batch?

Kane Willamson | Overall T20I record

Matches: 86
Runs: 2403
Average: 32.91
Balls faced: 1951
Strike rate: 123.16
50s: 16
100s: 0
Best: 95

If we take Kane Willamson's overall T20 record, it is not that great as well in modern standards. In fact, Williamson's strike rate of 123.16 is the fourth worst among the players with more than 2000 T20I runs. Hence, possibly, he has not been able to make that "impact" with the bat when it comes to getting going with the flow for his country.

Players with more than 2000 T20I runs (5 worst strike rates)

Final Words

Yes, Kane used to be an accumulator. He was the mainstay for the Kiwi team to take them through the middle order. Or, maybe he was the key guy to take them out of a top-order collapse. But, with the evolution of the game, teams are now preferring to "hitting it out of the trouble" approach. Players like Gleen Philips and Surya Kumar Yadav has shown that the era of 120+ and 30+ strike rate can be avoided in T20I cricket.

After another trophyless season in the T20 World Cup, it will be interesting to see how New Zealand cricket takes Kane's batting performance in the shortest format. Kane's own approach will be under the limelight as well as reports say SRH might get rid of him in the IPL 2023 auction.