Wellington [New Zealand], November 9: Former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has revealed that he spoke to Indian batting star Virat Kohli a day before announcing his retirement from international cricket, describing the conversation as "like looking in the mirror".
Williamson brought his distinguished 16-year international career to an end in June this year, retiring with several records and achievements to his name. He finished as New Zealand's highest run-scorer in international cricket, with 19,346 runs, including 48 centuries and six double-centuries.
In Test cricket, he ended his career as New Zealand's leading run-scorer with 9,515 runs, comprising 33 centuries and six double-centuries. His retirement came as a surprise to many, as he was less than 500 runs away from the 10,000-run milestone, widely regarded as a significant achievement in Test cricket. India's Virat Kohli also retired from Test cricket in 2025, with 9,230 runs to his name.
Kohli Conversation Helped Williamson Decide Retirement
Speaking on Between Two Beers Podcast, Williamson revealed that a conversation with Virat Kohli a day before announcing his retirement helped him gain clarity about his decision. He said the two shared similar experiences in cricket, including long careers, leadership responsibilities and family life, allowing them to connect over the emotions and challenges of stepping away from the game. Williamson said the conversation left him convinced that it was time to retire.
“I spoke to a number of people I trust and I've been really, really close with. And then I actually had a really, really cool chat with Virat like the day before I announced it and it was really like looking in the mirror just sharing the experiences that we've had in the game for so long,” he said.
“He's still playing a little bit, but largely he made some of those big decisions and that, like, honestly, just cheering… There's no one else I think, even players in your own team from, at times, that have just been in that exact same position for the exact same length of time, captaincy roles, children at the same time. Like we sort of live this parallel thing. We had a really quite special relationship, but although different worlds, and it was just quite a cool thing to be able to share some of that real vulnerable stuff and how you were feeling and and just connect over it and it and I was like I walked out of there or I got off the phone, my wife walked into the hotel room and I was like, it's time,” he added.
Changing Priorities And Love For Cricket
Williamson said his conversation with Kohli centred on how their approach to cricket and motivation had evolved after 16 years in the game. He reflected that while he had spent years striving to improve themselves and their teams, changing personal priorities could affect his relationship with the sport. He added that he wanted to step away when he felt he was no longer playing for the same reasons that had driven him throughout his career.
“It's funny like your approach to the game and how you treat it and how you go about it. If or when that starts to change and that was largely what we were sharing and and the pursuit and this was a lot of the the conversation it's like ‘man this 16 years on this pursuit and every day is how do I get better, how do I get this team better every day’ and we were talking a lot about that and you do it for a long time your life changes and for the better,” he said.
“Like you do something and you love it for so long, you give it everything and then you do have to put it down, but your life does change and therefore you can find yourself in positions that you're doing things for reasons that aren't yours, you know, and I don't think you can do that for a long time, but I think it's still important. It was for me to just understand it a little bit. And I was in that space because I didn't want to make any sort of drastic decisions on it, but I could see and feel that it was changing a bit. And we were just talking about this and it's funny because you play this sport and there's potentially a profile that's attached to it and fans that come and watch and it's an amazing thing to be a part of, but you don't play it for that,” he added.
Williamson Rejects Milestone-Driven Career Goals
Williamson said reaching 10,000 Test runs was never a personal goal or a motivating factor behind his career. He explained that he did not want to continue playing merely to achieve milestones or meet public expectations, adding that success should not be measured only through statistics, averages or centuries but by personal satisfaction and genuine motivation for the game.
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“You don't do it for those reasons. But if they're no longer yours and there was a term that he did use and it was this idea that you can start playing for the gallery. You can start, like holding on or doing things for reasons that aren't just… I use the word pure maybe like for your own measure of it, but that aren't just you that drive you back to the craft and and to being a part of the team,” he said.
“Every interview I did, they would ask about it and they were never the things that drove me, you it wasn't a number. It wasn't to get to 10,000 runs to a point where I genuinely believe that if that was a goal of mine at the start, I wouldn't be close. We wouldn't sit here and even reference it, because what is your definition of success? Is it is it an average? Is it a certain number of hundreds? They're essentially limitations and often you might have a successful career but probably fall short because your goals are lofty, and I don't know, it wouldn't have been true to me,” he added.
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(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
