Set to play his 100th Test match, star New Zealand batter Kane Williamson on Wednesday recollected the "surreal" feeling he had when he was surrounded by the legendary Indian cricketers, including the iconic Sachin Tendulkar, during his debut Test in Ahmedabad in 2010.
The 33-year-old Williamson, who made 131 in New Zealand's first innings in the drawn Ahmedabad Test on debut, will be completing a century of Tests in the second match of the two-Test series against Australia beginning in Christchurch on Friday. "I remember walking out and looking around the field and seeing all my heroes.
I used to love playing backyard cricket as a youngster, and all those guys were in that team that I would try and select," Williamson told reporters. "It was Tendulkar and Laxman and Dravid, and it was kind of like, 'How am I here?
I'd better start watching the ball and try and compete'. "It was quite surreal. I remember being quite eager to try and get into the opposition's dressing room and chat to some of those guys if I could." In that match, Virender Sehwag made 173, while Rahul Dravid scored 104 and Tendulkar 40 in India's first innings total of 487.