This was Kane Williamson’s fourth defeat in the ICC tournament final in white-ball cricket.
While one legend Virat Kohli emerged victorious in the Champions Trophy 2025, his counterpart in the New Zealand team, Kane Williamson, was again on the losing side. Kane has been part of numerous heartbreaks across ICC tournaments, and the list keeps growing after the latest defeat.
Following the game’s conclusion, the official broadcaster asked Virat Kohli to share a few words about Kane Williamson, with whom he shares a great friendship. Empathising Williamson, Kohli exclaimed he was sad to see the Kiwi legend on the losing side and that the two only share love between them.
“Sad to see a very good friend of mine (Kane Williamson) on the losing side, but I’ve been on the losing side a couple of times when he’s been on the winning side. So only love between us.”
This was Williamson’s fourth defeat in the ICC tournament final in white-ball cricket. He has been on the wrong end of the 2015 World Cup, 2019 World Cup, 2021 T20 World Cup, and 2025 Champions Trophy.
Virat Kohli later praised New Zealand for their immense consistency across ICC tournaments, saying he is always in awe of their capabilities with a limited number of players. Kohli said the Kiwi side maximises their potential because of immense belief in their skills.
“We’ve always been in awe of what they can do with the limited number of players they’ve had over the years and just maximize their talent to the absolute maximum. They’ve been probably the most consistent team in the last few years in big tournaments. And the reason for that is their immense belief in their skills and the amount of talent they have. So yeah, huge shout out to them.”
New Zealand have easily been one of the better units in ICC events and at least qualify for the knockout phase every time. They bring out their best game in such tournaments and somehow find a way to do the unthinkable.
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They read the conditions better than many other teams and plan their games accordingly. This skill is not limited to planning; New Zealand players also execute their plans perfectly on the field more often than not, which is a key reason behind their supreme consistency over the years.
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