T20 World Cup 2022: Is Kane Williamson becoming a burden on his team?

On Tuesday, November 1, England defeated New Zealand by a score of 20 runs in the tournament’s 33rd game in the T20 World Cup 2022. With this victory, England moved up to second place in the Super 12 Group 1 standings with five points after its first four games. With the same number of points but a considerably superior net run rate, New Zealand is still in the first place. While batting first at the Gabba, England set a lofty 180-run total, with skipper Jos Buttler leading the way with 73 runs off 47 balls and Alex Hales adding 52.

In response, New Zealand initially struggled but recovered in the middle overs thanks to a 91-run third-wicket partnership between Glenn Phillips and Kane Williamson. Williamson scored 40 runs off 40 balls and Glenn scored 62 runs off just 36 balls to keep the Kiwis on track for a significant chase. Williamson scored 40 runs, but his strike rate of 100.0 contributed significantly to the Kiwis’ loss. Williamson has a poor strike rate of 93.42 and has scored 71 runs in three innings during this competition.

Read more: T20 World Cup 2022: What are the qualification scenarios for both groups?

Kane Williamson puts pressure on other batters

Kane Williamson has struggled in T20 cricket throughout 2022. He was the top scorer for his side in last year’s T20 WC final against Australia but since then his form in T20 cricket has been abysmal, to say the least. He opened the innings for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2022 but struggled there too. He had a dot ball percentage of 48.1 per cent playing in the powerplay.

His numbers in T20Is this year have not been great either. He has just 1 half-century in 9 innings and his strike rate has been just 115.2. Someone like Martin Guptill is sitting out. The tournament is heading towards its business end, so the question is can the Kiwis benefit if Williamson drops himself?