WTC final: "Kane Williamson is a relatively conservative captain"- Former New Zealand bowler Shane Bond

Former New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond termed Kane Williamson's style of captaincy as conservative and contrasting to his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli. However, Bond added that both star skippers' approaches work well for their respective teams.

New Zealand and India will fight it out for the World Test Championship title when the two teams lock horns at Southampton on June 18. Apart from the two sides, there is a collision in the style of captaincy between Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson.

Shedding light on that, Shane Bond said in a press conference organized by Star Sports:

"They (Kane & Virat) are at the two ends of the spectrum. I think Kane is a relatively conservative captain. He is reasonably conservative with his selection. He plays it reasonably conservatively on the field as well (as captain). He likes to stick to the players that he knows and he trusts. That's why I think he will go with 5 seamers. He trusts De Grandhomme and those four seamers."

These quicks are dominating everyday 👍🇮🇳 @mdsirajofficial @ImIshant pic.twitter.com/anUrYhgaRu

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) June 14, 2021

Weighing in on Virat Kohli's captaincy style, Shane Bond, who played 18 Tests and 82 ODIs for New Zealand, stated:

"Virat on the other end wears his heart on his sleeve, he's aggressive, he gets in people's faces, fires his team up. You know exactly how he's feeling whether the things are going good or bad. He plays that aggressive approach with the bat as well and leads from the front with the bat. So very contrasting approaches but they work equally as well for their teams and lineups that they have."

New Zealand pick their 15 man squad for the WTC final

Arriving in Southampton 🚌 #WTC21 pic.twitter.com/IaVRY9EfbX

— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) June 14, 2021

New Zealand recently announced their 15-member squad for the World Test Championship final, dropping five members from the squad of 20 that was picked for the England series.

Mitchell Santner was one of the most prominent names to miss out as the Kiwis opted for Ajaz Patel as their sole spinner on the roster. Doug Bracewell, Jacob Duffy, Daryl Mitchell and Rachin Ravindra were the four other players who failed to make the cut after being named in the squad for the two-match Test series against England.

BJ Watling and Kane Williamson are expected to return to the XI after missing the second Test at Edgbaston due to injuries.

New Zealand squad for WTC final: Tom Latham, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, Will Young, BJ Watling, Tom Blundell, Colin de Grandhomme, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, Ajaz Patel, Trent Boult, Matt Henry