One of the major talking points from the retention and release day was Sunrisers Hyderabad letting go of their captain, Kane Williamson, who they had retained for 14 crore ahead of IPL 2022, a top-bracket which they even denied Rashid Khan, who then left SRH for Gujarat Titans for a 15 crore contract.
However, after SRH finished 8th in the points table in the 10-team IPL 2022 tournament – winning only 6 out of 14 games – and considering Williamson’s own poor form with the bat – he scored just 216 runs in 13 innings and his strike rate of 93.50 was the lowest among all batters to have faced at least 100 balls in the season – and his struggles with his elbow injury since last year, the franchise decided to release him.
They can though buy him back at a lower price at the auction, however, that isn’t a given because other franchises might also bid for Williamson and may just up the pricing if SRH seems desperate for the New Zealander’s services.
SRH had spoken to Kane Williamson about their decision
Kane Williamson, who recently led New Zealand to the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2022, said that he wants to continue playing in the IPL and will enter the auction, slated for December 23, and that he was going to “wait and watch with the auction coming up” next month.
When asked if being released by SRH would make him reconsider his T20 future, the Kiwi skipper shot back: “No, not really. There are a lot of competitions around the world, and the IPL is certainly an amazing completion to be a part of. You see players play for different teams all the time. There are a lot of options, lot of cricket, so for me, I love playing all formats.”
Overall, Kane Williamson was part of 8 years at SRH, wherein he amassed 2021 runs at an average of 36 and a strike rate of 126. He led them in 46 out of the 76 matches he played, and also marched SRH to the final of the 2018 IPL where they lost to CSK.
