“Williamson and Southee have been the torchbearers of NZ cricket,” says Sachin Tendulkar

New Delhi [India], March 8 (ANI): Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar on Friday heaped praise on Kane Williamson and Tim Southee and called them the “torchbearers” of New Zealand cricket after the Kiwi players reached the milestone of playing 100 Test matches.

Tendulkar in his social media account X, said that it was “fitting’ that both Williamson and Southee played their 100th Test match together after 16 years of playing in the 2008 U19 World Cup.

The 50-year-old also sent his best wishes to the Kiwi cricketers for reaching the remarkable feat against Australia.

“Kane Williamson and Tim Southee have been the torchbearers of New Zealand cricket ever since they burst onto the scene at the 2008 U-19 World Cup. It is only fitting that they also play their 100th Test match together around 16 years later. All the very best to them for their landmark match against familiar foes Australia,” Tendulkar wrote on X.

Southee and Williamson became just the fifth and sixth Black Caps players to reach the milestone of 100 Test matches.

The two Blackcaps veterans were teammates at the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup in 2008 where the team reached the semi-finals before losing to eventual champions, India.

Southee had already made his senior international debut a few weeks before the U19 World Cup, in the T20I format. He would go on to make his Test debut within a year.

Williamson, on the other hand, had to wait until 2010 to make his Test debut, but since made rapid strides across formats to evolve into one of New Zealand’s greatest-ever batters.

Williamson has 8675 runs in Tests, well ahead of Ross Taylor, the next best for New Zealand, and averages 55.25 in the format. No other active player has more Test hundreds than Williamson’s 32. Southee, meanwhile, has 378 Test wickets and is just over 50 wickets away from eclipsing Richard Hadlee’s tally for most Test wickets by a Kiwi bowler.

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