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Kane Williamson Playing T20 Cricket Is The Right Way Forward For The Short Term: Gary Stead On New Zealand Skipper's Participation In IPL

By Tamia Kumar

Updated - 16 Mar 2022, 01:21 PM

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New Zealand head coach Gary Stead said that the team management wants skipper Kane Williamson to play some T20 cricket on his road to recovering from his injury and also manage his workload.

Williamson has been struggling with his left elbow for the last 16 months which ruled him out of the home Test series against Bangladesh and South Africa in the months of January and February respectively. The 31-year-old played his last international match against India in the first Test in Kanpur.

Kane Williamson to miss international matches at home and play for SRH in IPL 2022

Kane Williamson
Image Source: Twitter

Williamson was retained by IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad as their first-choice player and will be leading them in IPL 2022, he is amongst the 12 players from New Zealand who will skip the white-ball series against the Netherlands at home this month to play in India’s big-ticket T20 tournament.

Kane Williamson playing T20 cricket is the right way forward for the short term: Gary Stead

The New Zealand head coach said that Williamson playing in the IPL will give them clarity of his availability for the three-match away Test series against England in June.

“Kane’s heading off to India. All the IPL guys [12 New Zealand players are part of the league] are away this week and heading off there. That’s just part of the current cycle of what it looks like in world cricket. He’s going really well. He’s been everywhere we want him to be and that’s great,” Stead said in a press conference.

Kane Williamson and Gary Stead
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson and head coach Gary Stead. Credits: Twitter

“For us, 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,” he added.
New Zealand will play a solitary T20I match against the Netherlands before they take them in three ODI matches, Tom Latham will lead the Black Caps in both series in Williamson’s absence. The ODI series will also be the last hurrah for New Zealand’s talisman Ross Taylor in international cricket.

New Zealand ODI squad: Tom Latham (c & wk)), Doug Bracewell, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Henry Nicholls, Ish Sodhi, Ross Taylor, Blair Tickner, Will Young

New Zealand T20I squad: Tom Latham (c & wk), Doug Bracewell, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Dane Cleaver (wk), Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Scott Kuggeleijn, Ben Sears, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner, Will Young

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Gary Stead Kane Williamson New Zealand Cricket Team New Zealand vs Netherlands

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