Knee injury could cut short Williamson's IPL stint

Ahmedabad: New Zealand captain Kane Williamson's continuation in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season has been put under doubt after suffering a right knee injury during his team's inaugurl match against Chennai Super Kings here on Friday.

The 32-year-old got injured following a nasty fall while fielding on the boundary during the CSK innings. He had limped off the field in the 13th over the game. The extent of his injury is not yet known, but going by what was seen on Friday night, it did not seem a minor injury.

Williamson, who was making his Gujarat Titans debut, intercepted a ball headed for a six off CSK opener Ruturaj Gaikwad's bat.

He managed to palm the ball into the field of play before it bounced onto the boundary ropes. But he fell awkwardly on the ground and clutched his right knee in pain.

He was taken off after receiving on-field treatment and did not come back to bat with B Sai Sudharsan coming in as a substitute fielder first and later he took Williamson's place in the Titans' playing XI under the 'Impact Player' rule.

Titans captain Hardik Pandya had said at the post-match press conference that he did not know how serious was the injury.

"It is knee (injury) for sure but I don't have any update about what exactly has happened. I don't know how serious the injury is and how much time it will take (to heal). Right now there is no time frame," Pandya said.

In Auckland, New Zealand head coach Gary Stead said Williamson's injury was a big blow to the national team.

"Our first thoughts are obviously with him, we're not sure at this stage of the severity of the injury. He's being assessed in the next 24-48 hours, so we will know more after that," said Stead, who had spoken to Williamson since the incident and found him in OK spirits.

"All we know at this stage is it's his right knee. Unfortunately I can't give you much more than that now until we find out more information," Stead was quoted as saying by www.stuff.co.nz.

"It's not nice to see anyone, let alone your captain of your white-ball team, being injured. It's a big blow for him, and it's a big blow for us."

Williamson had played for Sunrisers Hyderabad since 2015, and captained them fully in 2018 and 2022, and partially in 2019 and 2021.