Nursing a shoulder injury, skipper Kane Williamson will be a doubtful starter for Sunrisers Hyderabad’s opening IPL game against Kolkata Knight Riders at the iconic Eden Gardens on Sunday.
Commenting on Williamson, coach Tom Moody said that Kane arrived with Martin Guptill late Friday night. They had to attend an award function with New Zealand Cricket back home.
Williamson picked up a shoulder injury while fielding during the second Test against Bangladesh and was taken to hospital for further scans to determine the seriousness of the injury.
“It’s not a long term injury. Whether he plays, we will take a call on match day. We have got quite a few days before our next home game. If he’s not available, I don’t see any issues from the second game onwards. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is our vice-captain,” Moody was quoted as saying.
In Kane’s absence, India seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead the Orange army. Williamson had a stellar season for SRH with the bat last year as he amassed 735 runs at an average of 52.50 and an impressive strike rate of 142.44. He bagged the Orange Cap finishing as the highest run-getter of the tournament.
Sunrisers, meanwhile, were boosted by the addition of Shakib-Al-Hasan from KKR. Shakib in his first season with Sunrisers last year, performed much better than at KKR, taking 14 wickets in 17 matches, the most he has taken in any season of the IPL.
