Premier New Zealand batter Kane Williamson stunned the cricketing world by relinquishing white-ball captaincy after the team's poor show in the T20 World Cup 2024. The Kiwi team failed to reach the Super 8 stage after suffering defeats against Afghanistan and West Indies.

Under Williamson's captaincy, New Zealand flourished across formats and played in the three ICC tournaments finals - ICC World Test Championship, ODI World Cup 2019 and T20 World Cup 2021.

Meanwhile, Williamson has also rejected the central contract for the 2024/25 season. However, he has opted to take up a contract outside of New Zealand in January, meaning he will be unavailable for part of the summer at home.

He led New Zealand in 40 Tests, 91 ODIs and 75 T20Is. Williamson already stepped down as Test captain in 2022 as Tim Southee took over the charge in red-ball cricket, while the Kiwis now have to find a new leader in the other two formats.

Here are the highs and lows of Williamson's captaincy

Highs - Consistency in White-ball to World Test Championship Title

New Zealand outclassed India in the final of the inaugural World Test Championship under Williamson's leadership to clinch the iconic 'mace'. They started as underdogs but completely dominated the hosts with clinical performance with the ball. They were also the runner-ups in T20 World Cup 2021, where Australia bettered them. It was a golden period for New Zealand cricket as they played the final of the 2019 ODI World Cup, where England managed to beat them by the barest of margins in the super over on boundary count. Williamson, who is still an inspirational figure in the Kiwi camp, led the team to the semi-finals of the previous three T20 World Cups, which marked the golden era of New Zealand cricket in white-ball cricket.

Lows - Early 2024 T20 WC exit

The group-stage elimination from the 2024 T20 World Cup will leave a big dent in Williamson's rich legacy as New Zealand captain. It was an underwhelming start from New Zealand in the mega ICC event as they suffered a big upset against Afghanistan and then lost to West Indies in their next match. The franchise leagues might have hurt New Zealand cricket in recent times as several players have opted out of central contracts, as a result, the board picked young players in the bilateral contests while the senior players returned for the mega ICC event where things didn't work out as a unit for them.

Despite leading the team to multiple semi-finals and finals in ICC events, Williamson failed to help them win a maiden white-ball title which is another thing he might regret looking back at his time as captain.

Kane Williamson's captaincy in Numbers

He is behind Babar Azam and Aaron Finch in terms of most matches as captain in the T20Is. In 75 T20Is, he led New Zealand to 39 wins and enjoyed a winning percentage of 52.00, while the results of 34 matches didn't go in his favour.

The star batter led New Zealand in multiple ODI World Cups and helped them reach the knockout stages on both occasions. Under his leadership, the Kiwis won 46 ODIs out of 91 at a winning percentage of 50.54.

Williamson stepped down as Test captain a couple of years ago, but a triumph in the inaugural World Test Championship remained one of the biggest achievements in New Zealand cricket history. He led the Blackcaps in 40 Tests and helped them win 22 matches.

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