The New Zealand cricket team's quest for a victory in the current tour of India seems to be an uphill task given that the team has looked underwhelming throughout the tour. The team had a terrible Test series after being whitewashed by Virat Kohli's men.
The finalists of the 2015 World Cup didn't have a great start to the ODI series either, as they lost the first match by 6 wickets after they managed to put only 190 on the board batting first.
Also read: India vs New Zealand 2nd ODI Preview: Men in Blue look to continue their winning ways
New Zealand pacer Trent Boult spoke at a press conference on Wednesday ahead of the second ODI in Delhi. During his brief interaction with the media, Boult said that the skipper, Kane Williamson, was going through a tough time and it will be difficult for the Kiwis to find a charismatic leader like Brendon McCullum.
"Kane is a classy player and has been ranked as a top batsman for a reason. In a way, he has had pretty tough time walking into the role of captaincy. It has been a learning experience for the whole team to be honest," he was quoted saying by The Indian Express.
Recalling his former captain Brendon McCullum’s influence on the team, Boult said, "The way Brendon led the team, I don’t think anyone could do it as well as he did it. He set his own tone, we all know what kind of explosive batsman, he is. But we are stacked up with lot of quality players in the side and we need all of them to stand up and put in good performance."
Also read: Brendon McCullum says he will never forgive Chris Cairns
McCullum took over the captaincy from Ross Taylor in December 2012 under controversial circumstances. He didn't have a great start to his captaincy stint as the Kiwis were crunch 3-0 in his first Test series. On 22 December 2015, the then New Zealand skipper announced that he would retire from international cricket.
In his final match against Australia on 20 February 2016, he scored the fastest ever Test century, in 54 balls, beating the record jointly held by Vivian Richards and Misbah-ul-Haq, scoring a total of 145 off 79 balls. He went on to become the first captain to score a century in his farewell test.
McCullum formally retired from all international cricket on 24 February 2016 and is the most successful skipper of New Zealand across formats in win percentage and is credited for the massive turnaround of New Zealand cricket, especially the 2015 World Cup run.
With the Kiwis already struggling in the ongoing series, it will be interesting to see how much of an effect does Boult’s comments have on Williamson.
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