Kane Williamson has declared the BLACKCAPS ready for the ICC World Twenty20, as he confidently fronted the pre-tournament media conference in Mumbai.
Just hours after the team’s first training on Indian soil, the BLACKCAPS captain cut straight to the chase about the challenge ahead.
"It will be a really tough tournament and every team will be expecting that, which makes way for a very exciting competition,” he said.
"We’ve been playing some good T20 cricket, but you want to play smart, as over here cricket can be quite different to our conditions."
With former captain Brendon McCullum now officially in retirement, Williamson acknowledged that it was a new era for the BLACKCAPS, but hinted at a similar philosophy.
"That aggressive brand that we have been playing has been really effective for us.
"That is our focus but coming over here things will be different and we have to be smart, and look to try to play the brand that is best suited to the conditions and sides we come up against here."
At 25 years of age Williamson is a relatively young captain, but he says McCullum has left a good group of heads around him.
"He certainly led by example but he encouraged others to do the same. I think he created a lot of leaders in the group," Williamson added.
"There’s a lot of guys (in our side) who have played a lot of cricket here and it’s important that you do tap into that experience to help your course."
Williamson is leading a T20 team in form having won four of their five games at home this summer.
He’ll have three quality spinners at his disposal, all bringing something different, in the form of veteran Nathan McCullum, leg spinner Ish Sodhi and all rounder Mitchell Santner.
Williamson acknowledged the importance of spin, but still felt his star pace bowlers would have their say in the sixth installment of the 20 over tournament.
"I have no doubt that seam bowling will play a big part as well and we certainly have some world class seamers in our line-up,” he said.
The BLACKCAPS have two warm-up games against Sri Lanka and England in Mumbai before relocating to Nagpur for the tournament opener against hosts India (16th, 3:00am NZT).
