"Kane Williamson playing T20 cricket is the right way forward for the short term" - New Zealand head coach Gary Stead
New Zealand head coach Gary Stead believes that playing T20 cricket over the next few months will benefit Kane Williamson, who has been struggling with a nagging elbow injury for the past 16 months.
Speaking at a press conference, Stead suggested that focusing on the shortest format will help the right-handed batter manage his workload. He also mentioned that this may give the team management a better idea regarding his availability for the Kiwis' upcoming tour of England.
Stead said:
"Kane playing T20 cricket is the right way forward for the short term. It means we can manage his loads a little bit more. And we have a little bit more of a clear idea around how many balls he will be hitting to make sure he is loading the elbow progressively, with a view to him being right for the Tests in the UK which we will be really hopeful for."
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Williamson, who last featured in an international match in November 2021, is set to represent Sunrisers Hyderabad in the forthcoming 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2022). He is amongst the 12 New Zealand players who will give the white-ball home series against the Netherlands a miss to play in the cash-rich league.
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Kane Williamson arrives in India ahead of IPL 2022
Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Kane Williamson landed in Mumbai earlier today ahead of the team's pre-IPL camp. The franchise took to social media to announce the arrival of their skipper.
The 2016 champions will open their IPL 2022 schedule with a clash against the Rajasthan Royals on March 29 at the MCA Stadium in Pune. Here is their complete squad for this year's IPL:
SRH squad for IPL 2022: Kane Williamson, Abdul Samad, Umran Malik, Washington Sundar, Nicholas Pooran, T Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Priyam Garg, Rahul Tripathi, Abhishek Sharma, Karik Tyagi, Shreyas Gopal, Jagadeesha Suchith, Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, Romario Shepherd, Sean Abbott, R Samarth, Saurabh Dubey, Shashank Singh, Vishnu Vinod, Glenn Philips, Fazalhaq Farooqi.