The IPL 2023 injured player list seems to be growing longer every day. Gujarat Titans player Kane Williamson is the fresh addition to an already long list of players who are either missing whole season or are expected to miss some chunk of the season due to injuries.
Williamson, who made his debut for Gujarat Titans on Friday in the season's first match against Chennai Super Kings, injured his knee while pulling off a spectacular fielding effort in the deep.
The injury was grave enough that Williamson could not stand on his feet and had to be assisted by his teammates and support staff to walk off the field. The New Zealand took no further part in the match and was eventually substituted by Sai Sudharsan under the new "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.
"I had just messaged him. He (Williamson) has gone for the scans, once he comes back after the scans and doctors check (on him), then only we will be able to know what exactly it is." 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.
(With PTI inputs
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