Kane Williamson to miss the last game of the league stage

In a major blow to the Sunrisers Hyderabad team, their skipper Kane Williamson is scheduled to fly back to his home in New Zealand to attend the birth of his second child. He will miss the final clash of the league stage against Punjab Kings on May 22 (Sunday).

The franchise made the official announcement about the update through their official Twitter account, which said, “Our skipper Kane Williamson is flying back to New Zealand, to usher in the latest addition to his family. Here’s everyone at the #Riser camp wishing Kane Williamson and his wife a safe delivery and a lot of happiness!”

Williamson was retained by SRH before the mega auction and was appointed as the full-time captain starting from IPL 2022.

SRH had a roller-coaster ride this season, after losing the first 2 matches, they striked back with 5 back-to-back wins and made it to the top part of the table but then fell down after 5 losses in a row.

They are currently at the 8th spot on the table with 12 points and if they manage to win the last game against PBKS then their hopes are alive to proceed to the playoffs. A lot of it depends upon the results of other games.

Kane Williamson’s wife gave birth to their first child, who was a daughter, in December 2020. At that time, the Kiwi skipper missed a Test match against the West Indies.

It isn't confirmed yet whether Kane Williamson will join back the team camp if SRH qualifies for the playoffs.

In his absence, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Nicholas Pooran are the top contenders to lead the SRH side in the match against PBKS. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has earlier led the side while Nicholas Pooran has been handed the West Indies captaincy recently, after Kieron Pollard announced retirement from international cricket.

Williamson didn’t have a good season with the bat this year. In 13 matches he  scored just 216 runs at an average of 19.64 and a strike rate of just 93.50.

Williamson’s absence might open doors for Glenn Phillips to finally make it to the playing 11.