"Something similar happened with Ricky Ponting" - Harbhajan Singh explains why Kane Williamson should step down from SRH captaincy in IPL 2022
Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh believes that SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper Kane Williamson's form with the bat is hurting his team dearly. The opener has managed to score just 208 runs so far, at a poor strike rate of just over 92.
Singh recalled how former Australian captain Ricky Ponting went through such a rough patch when he led the Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2013. Ponting was in woeful form with the bat and then decided to drop himself for the IPL team's benefit.
Speaking to Sportskeeda on the show, 'SK Match ki Baat', here's what Harbhajan Singh had to say about Ponting's stint with MI:
"Something similar happened with Ricky Ponting in 2013. He was captaining the team but he realized that he was letting the team down with his batting. So after 5-6 games, he himself stepped down and became a part of the think tank and we won the title that year."
Harbhajan believes Williamson needs to give up captaincy for now to bring the best out of his batting. On this, he said:
"Williamson should think of handing the captaincy to someone else and focus on his batting. If he wants to be the captain again, he can come back next year."
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On this day 2018, Kane Williamson played a fabulous knock of 81 (42) vs RCB in Bangalore 🧡 Chasing a colossal target of 219, he gave RCB a huge scare & got SRH close to the target - falling short by just 14 runs. This was during the days Kane used to play fluently. Good times 💯 https://t.co/AV2hOqV0Oi
Harbhajan Singh on Kane Williamson's captaincy
Harbhajan Singh was baffled to see Kane Williamson give the ball to off-spinner Washington Sundar in the 20th over against the dangerous Andre Russell in SRH's last match against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Russell smashed three sixes in that over to set up a comfortable win for his side.
On this, Harbhajan stated:
"Giving Washington Sundar the 20th over that day (against KKR) was a huge error by Williamson, Tom Moody or whoever made that decision. Even a non-cricket person would understand that bowling off -spin to Russell at the death wasn't the right decision."
Kane Williamson will need to elevate his game if he wants to make a match-winning contribution against MI on Tuesday, May 17.