The Sunrisers Hyderabad made the bold decision to release Kane Williamson, their captain of IPL 2022, ahead of the IPL 2023 auction. This would have been a tough call for SRH to make, because the 2016 IPL champions had moved mountains for the Kiwi cricketer, but now they had made up their mind to release him.
In mid-season IPL 2021, SRH sacked David Warner and instated Williamson as their skipper. They then even let go of Rashid Khan who had demanded the top bracket of 14 crore, but the franchise remained adamant on giving that slot to their captain, Williamson. So, it would have taken great pain for SRH to now part ways with Williamson.
There’s plenty of logic in this call by the Kalanithi Maran-owned franchise.
Here are 3 reasons why SRH released Kane Williamson:
Dip in form in T20 cricket in 2022
The key reason any player get dropped or released by any team is his dipping form. It has been painful to watch Kane Williamson struggled with the bat in the shortest format this year: in the IPL 2022, the SRH skipper averaged only 19 and scored at a dismal strike rate of 93! In the T20 World Cup 2022, the New Zealand captain though averaged 35 with the bat, he had a strike rate of only 116.
Overall, in T20s in 2022, Williamson averaged 28 at a lowly strike rate of 109, undeniably a poor strike rate in modern T20 cricket.
Elbow injury struggles
The elbow injury that Williamson has been tending to for about two years now has limited his hitting options in T20 cricket. Ahead of the IPL 2022, the SRH captain himself had expressed grave frustrations over his elbow saying that at times he had wanted to just “cut it off”. It has also forced him to miss a number of games for his country too.
SRH might look to buy back Williamson for a lower price than 14 crore
Let’s be honest: there is perhaps no chance that Kane Williamson will get 14 crore, or maybe even close to it in the upcoming IPL 2023 auction. And SRH would know that too. With this form and elbow injury struggles, other franchises might not want him too desperately, and at best he would go for about 7-8 crore, an amount SRH might be happy to spend at the auction to regain the services of Williamson.
What releasing Williamson has done for SRH is created a big space in their purse; SRH are going in the auction with the biggest purse of INR 42.25 crore.
