Kane Williamson Stepped Down From White Ball Captaincy

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson stepped down from the white ball captaincy on Wednesday 19th June owing to their terrible performance in the T20 World Cup 2024 which ended in the group stage. Along with that, the ace batsman has also rejected a central contract from the board for 2024-25 season.

Earlier in December 2022, Williamson relinquished the test captaincy and his old friend Tim Southee was appointed as the captain. The Tauranga-born player has represented New Zealand in 100 tests, 165 ODIs, and 93 T20Is while leading the side in 40 tests, 91 ODIs, and 7f T20Is.

Under his leadership, the Blackcaps played three finals in white ball cricket- the 2015 World Cup, 2019 World Cup, and 2021 T20 World Cup. However, they won the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship 2019-21 in Southhampton by beating India in the finals.

After refusing the central contract, Williamson has stated that he will continue to play all three formats for New Zealand but by doing so he has also opened the path of participating in other franchise leagues than IPL. Captaining the the Kiwis in white ball cricket would be a huge void to fill as under Williamson, they reached the finals and semi-finals regularly in the ICC events.