“I have followed Virat Kohli’s progress since childhood”: Kane Williamson opens up about his friendship with Virat Kohli

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson considers himself “fortunate” to possess played the sport in conjunction with Virat Kohli, and said he has been closely following his Indian counterpart’s journey from a young age.

Both Williamson and Kohli featured within the 2008 ICC U19 World Cup in Malaysia, which was lifted by India and since then went on to become modern-day greats of the sport.

“Yes, we are fortunate to play against one another. it’s been great to satisfy at a young age and follow his (Kohli’s) progress also as his journey,” Williamson said on Star Sports show ‘Cricket Connected’.

Infact, it had been Kohli’s India that beat Williamson’s New Zealand during a close semi-final of the 2008 U19 World Cup, which also featured players like Ravindra Jadeja, Trent Boult and Tim Southee.
Williamson, who led New Zealand to the 2019 ICC World Cup final, said he and Kohli have shared honest opinions about the sport over the previous couple of years.

“It’s been interesting, we’ve had to play against one another for an extended period of your time,” he said.

“But actually, probably over the previous couple of years we just shared our views on the sport, some honest thoughts and located some common grounds despite, perhaps, playing the sport bit differently in terms of physically and should be our on-field characters I suppose,” added Williamson.