Former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has revealed that a conversation with Virat Kohli a day before announcing his retirement from international cricket helped him gain clarity about his decision. Williamson described the interaction as “like looking in the mirror”, highlighting the similarities between their careers, leadership experiences and personal lives.
Williamson called time on his illustrious 16-year international career in June 2025, leaving behind an impressive legacy. He retired as New Zealand’s highest run-scorer in international cricket, with 19,346 runs, including 48 centuries and six double-centuries.
In Test cricket, Williamson finished as his country’s leading run-scorer with 9,515 runs, including 33 centuries and six double-centuries. He was also closing in on the prestigious 10,000-run milestone but decided against continuing his career to reach the landmark. Meanwhile, Kohli also announced his retirement from Test cricket in 2025, having accumulated 9,230 runs in the format.
Speaking on the Between Two Beers Podcast, Williamson disclosed that he had spoken to Kohli shortly before making his retirement announcement. He explained that their shared experiences of spending several years at the highest level, handling captaincy responsibilities and raising children during their cricketing careers helped them connect on a personal level.
“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.
Williamson further explained that although Kohli was still playing international cricket at the time, the Indian batter had already made some significant career decisions. Their conversation allowed both players to discuss the emotional challenges of moving away from a sport that had been central to their lives for so many years.
“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.
What did Kane Williamson discuss with Virat Kohli before retiring?
Williamson revealed that their discussion largely revolved around how their motivation and approach towards cricket had evolved after spending 16 years in international cricket. He explained that both had spent a significant part of their careers trying to improve themselves and their respective teams, but changing priorities in life eventually influenced their relationship with the game.
The former New Zealand captain added that he wanted to understand these changes rather than make a sudden decision about his future. He also highlighted the importance of continuing to play cricket for personal satisfaction rather than external expectations.
“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.
Williamson further explained that while cricket had given him several memorable experiences, he did not want to continue playing if his reasons for being involved in the sport had changed. He stressed that players should remain connected to their original motivation instead of feeling obligated to continue because of their reputation or expectations from supporters.
“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.
Why did Williamson not continue playing to reach 10,000 Test runs?
Williamson also addressed the attention surrounding his proximity to the 10,000-run milestone in Test cricket. Despite being fewer than 500 runs away from the landmark, he maintained that reaching the figure was never among his personal objectives.
He explained that he did not want to prolong his career simply to achieve a statistical milestone or satisfy expectations from fans and the media. Williamson also reflected on how players could lose sight of their original motivations when they start playing for external recognition rather than their own satisfaction.
“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.
The 35-year-old further explained that conventional statistical achievements should not be the sole measure of a successful career. He believed that pursuing personal milestones could sometimes become a limitation rather than a genuine source of motivation.
“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.
