'Class personified' - Twitter booming as Kane Williamson lights up Karachi with 5th double century

Kane Willamson (Source: Twitter)

New Zealand and Pakistan locked horns at the National Stadium in Karachi. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first. Pakistan were in a spot of bother at 48-3 when Babar Azam and Sarfaraz Ahmed came on crease. The current captain and the former Pakistan captain rallied together to form a wonderful partnership.

He scored a scintillating 161 off 280 balls with 15 fours and 1 six. Sarfraz showed that he was still a beast at the Test level by scoring 86 off 153 balls with 9 fours. A resolute 103 off 155 balls with 17 fours from Agha Salman ensured Pakistan end up on a huge total at 438.

Then came the New Zealand reply. The Kiwis had shown on numerous occasions that they are no pushovers in subcontinental conditions. Tom Latham scored 113 off 191 balls with 10 fours and Devon Conway scored a resilient 92 off 176 balls with 14 fours.

The day though belonged to Kane Williamson, he had relinquished Test captaincy and handed it over to Tim Southee. He played a masterclass on the Karachi wicket and batted with freedom as the burden of leading the side was lifted from his shoulders. This was a double hundred to savour from Williamson. He scored 200 off 395 balls and forged an 8th-wicket partnership with Ish Sodhi.

Sodhi scored a valuable 65 off 180 balls down the order. His innings included 11 fours. This allowed the Kiwis to get to a lead of 174 runs. Williamson has scored 7568 runs in his Test career in 89 matches at an average of 54.05 and a strike rate of 51.22. He has scored 33 fifties and 25 hundreds which shows his fantastic conversion rate.

He was also bought by Gujarat for 2CR INR in the recent Indian T20 League auction. He led the Hyderabad franchise with great distinction and guided them to being runners-up in 2016. At Gujarat he will not lead the side as the side will be led by Hardik Pandya. It will be interesting to see how many games he will end up playing for the Gujarat Franchise.

Twitter was abuzz, let us take a look at the reactions here:

5th Double Century for Kane Williamson in Tests.
He's Rightly Among The Modern Day Great Batters of This Format He's Hitting Some Form in Longer Formats.🏏🔥💫#PAKvNZ #BACKTHEBLACKCAPS #CricketNation #KaneWilliamson, #NewZealand pic.twitter.com/e4YPaGEVem

— Samarth Patel (@digitalsamarth_) December 29, 2022

Black cap Goat 🙌,his test statistics 🤐#KaneWilliamson #PAKvNZ pic.twitter.com/LMqnF3idBk

— Bhatt Bhrugu (@BHATTBHRUGU1) December 29, 2022

722 days after kane Williamson score a century#KaneWilliamson

— Himanshu Ladha (@HimanshuLadha8) December 29, 2022

Congratulations Kane What A Player He is #KaneWilliamson

— kami vines (@kamivines6) December 29, 2022

Kane Williamson with an innings of grit, determination and patience. He looked very calm and composed throughout. No 100 for 2 years… no problem makes up with a marvellous 200! #KaneWilliamson #PAKvNZ

— Hemil17 (@HPCricket1) December 29, 2022

Amazing achievement by the @BLACKCAPS Kane Williamson with another 200. His humble response was in complete contrast to Warner when he got the 200 the other day. I know what player I would prefer in my team. #PAKvNZ #AUSvSA

— Simon Harrison (@simonharrison5) December 29, 2022

Kane Williamson becomes the first ever non-Asian player to score a Test hundred in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Allan Border scored a Test hundred in IND, PAK, SL while Bangladesh wasn't a Test nation during his career.#PAKvNZ

— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) December 28, 2022

5th double hundred in Test cricket for the great Kane Williamson - what a player over the years. pic.twitter.com/HGCs585TVb

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) December 29, 2022

5th double hundred for Kane Williamson, the best in business from New Zealand showing his class. What an incredible player. pic.twitter.com/J7em5k9Tiz

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) December 29, 2022