Canberra, Dec 5 (IANS): New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson is undoubtedly one of the great batsmen in modern day cricket as he adapts to any situation beside being a great leader.

Years ago, when the current Kiwi skipper toured Australia for the first time as a 21-year-old, wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon McCullum had told Aussie legend Ricky Ponting that Williamson would go on to become a great.

Speaking about it, Ponting said: "Brendon McCullum said to me then ‘this kid is going to be one of the best players in the world."

"And I thought ‘really?'. He was pretty loose outside off stump and was going pretty hard at the ball. But when you see him now and what he's developed into, he plays the ball later than anybody, he makes big runs, he makes runs consistently and he's been talked about as being one of the best players in the world for the last four or five years," Ponting was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

"And he's their captain, so he's a very important player for them," Ponting added.

Ponting also felt that Williamson has turned into a great cricketer in the shortest format of the game which is not a very easy thing to do.

"I've seen him turn himself from an ordinary T20 player into a very good T20 player, and that's not an easy thing to do. That says a lot about the skill that he's got," Ponting opined.