2 instances when captain Kane Williamson's weird tactics paid rich dividends

Kane Williamson, who is widely known for his batting technique and his unique ability to pace the innings to perfection, is also rapidly establishing himself as one of the best captains to lead the New Zealand cricket team. He took over the reins from Brendon McCullum who retired from all forms of international cricket three years ago.

Some fans expected Ross Taylor or Martin Guptill to take over the captaincy from Brendon McCullum but it was Kane Williamson who emerged as the next skipper of the side.

Williamson has been very successful as captain, having recently won a difficult Test series against Pakistan in the UAE. Also, he led the Sunrisers Hyderabad to the IPL final in 2018 in absence of David Warner.

The Kiwi player has proved his wit and intelligence frequently but there have been some instances when he used some of the weirdest tactics to get the best results for his team.

Here are two occasions when those weird tactics of his paid rich dividends.

---

#2 Proving that silly mid-on was not at all silly against Australia in 2017

Williamson won the match for his team with an epic run-out

In an ODI match between Australia and New Zealand at Auckland in 2017, New Zealand batted first and set a target of 287 for the visitors. Australia's top order suffered a collapse as they were reduced to 67/6 by the New Zealand bowlers.

Marcus Stoinis was the only recognized batsman in the middle but he played a miraculous innings batting with the tail-enders and took the Australian total to 226/9 with 61 runs needed from 7 overs.

Stoinis continued his onslaught as he brought down the occasion to 7 runs off 19 balls with Josh Hazlewood on the other end. It was the last ball of 47th over and just 7 runs remaining, Kane Williamson shockingly placed himself at the short mid-on position sensing that Stoinis would try to take a single to retain the strike heading into the 48th over.

His great presence of mind paid off as Marcus Stoinis hit the ball straight towards Williamson and Josh Hazlewood, the non-striker left his crease for a single. The New Zealand skipper displayed his athleticism and ran out Hazlewood to win the match for his team.

New Zealand won the match by 6 runs as Marcus Stoinis remained unbeaten on 146 runs off 117 balls.

#1 Dropping Boult and Southee and picking 3 spinners against India

New Zealand's spinners thumped India in a low-scoring match

India hosted the 2016 WT20 and the hosts kicked off their campaign against New Zealand at Nagpur. Kane Williamson shocked everyone in the first match by dropping his lead pacers Trent Boult and Tim Southee for this important match.

Instead, skipper Williamson picked Ish Sodhi, Mitchell Santner and Nathan McCullum in the team with Adam Milne being the lone pacer. The Indian batsmen are known to be the finest players of spin and the decision raised a lot of eyebrows.

New Zealand could manage to score only 126 in the first innings but what happened next shocked every cricket fan. The Kiwi spinners fully exploited the spin-friendly conditions in Nagpur and took 9 wickets between themselves to skittle out the home side for a total of just 79 runs.

Santner took 4 wickets and was supported by leg-spinner Ish Sodhi (3 wickets) and N McCullum (2 wickets) as they demolished the Indian challenge and helped their side to win the match by 47 runs.

This match proved the deep cricket knowledge that Kane Williamson possesses and why he is hailed as one of the smartest captains on the field.

With the India tour of New Zealand kicking off soon, one can expect Williamson to add a few more instances to this list.