Kane Williamson Should Be Fit In Time For IPL 2021, Says New Zealand Coach Gary Stead

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson will be missing the upcoming three-match ODI series against Bangladesh due to an elbow injury. However head coach Gary Stead has said that Williamson should be fit for the upcoming IPL 2021.

BCCI had recently announced the schedule for the Indian Premier League season 14. The tournament will begin from April 9 onwards and will be played across 6 cities- Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Ahmedabad. Ahmedabad will host the playoffs and the final of the IPL 2021 and no team will play a home game this season.

Kane Williamson Should Be Ready To Go Around The Start Of The IPL 2021: Gary Stead

New Zealand head coach Gary Stead mentioned that New Zealand Cricket (NZC) would talk to Williamson’s IPL franchise the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to allow the Kiwi skipper to ease into his batting.

Williamson has a small tear in his left-elbow tendon and he had been experiencing irritation in the back-half of the summer.

“It’s likely in about three weeks that Kane will be pretty close to being right up ready to go so that fits in with the time frames around the start of the IPL. We’ll keep talking with him and Sunrisers Hyderabad as well and just making sure he is 100% before he starts again,” ESPNCricinfo quoted Stead as saying.

Kane Williamson has played 53 matches in IPL scoring 1619 runs with a strike rate of 134.80 and 15 half-centuries. His highest score is 89. Williamson captained SRH into the finals of the IPL 2018 and scored 735 runs in 17 matches with 8 fifties to his name.

“What we want Kane to do be able to do is bat pain-free and bat for long periods of time. We’ve taken that view, looking after him after making sure his body is in the best condition it can be is paramount for us. I don’t expect there will be any long-term problems with this, just this period of rest is what he needs right now,” he added.

Overall for New Zealand, Kane Williamson has played 83 Tests, 151 ODIs, and 67 T20I matches, making 7115, 6173, and 1805 runs respectively. He has 24 Test and 13 ODI centuries with a cumulative 84 half-centuries to his name.

In 202 T20s, Williamson has 5163 runs with one century and 37 fifties with the best score of 101* and strike rate of 125.52.

Also Read: Kane Williamson Set To Miss The ODI Series Against Bangladesh Due To Injury