IPL 2023: Right knee injury may cut short Williamson's IPL stint

New Zealand captain Kane Williamsons further participation in the ongoing IPL has been put under doubt due to a right knee injury that he suffered during his teams winning effort against Chennai Super Kings hereThe 32yearold got injured following a nasty fall while fielding on the boundary during the CSK innings He had limped off the field in the 13th over on FridayThe extent of his injury is not yet known but going by what was seen on Friday night it did not seem a minor injuryWilliamson who was making his Gujarat Titans debut intercepted a ball headed for a possible six off CSK opener Ruturaj Gaikwads batHe managed to palm the ball into the field of play before it bounced onto the boundary ropes But he fell awkwardly on the ground and clutched his right knee in painHe was taken off after receiving onfield treatment and did not come back to ba with B Sai Sudharsan coming in as a substitute fielder first and later he took Williamsons place in the Titans playing XI under the Impact Player ruleAn IPL source told PTI that there is little chance for Williamson to take further part in the IPL though the assessment of his injury is still going onWilliamson will probably require ACL reconstruction and could be out of competitive cricket for indefinite period of time said the IPL sourceTitans captain Hardik Pandya had said at the postmatch press conference that he did not know how serious was the injuryAlso readGill sizzles as Gujarat Titans begin IPL title defence with fivewicket win over CSKIt is knee injury for sure but I dont have any update about what exactly has happened I dont know how serious the injury is and how much time it will take to heal Right now there is no time frame Pandya saidI 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 isIn Auckland New Zealand head coach Gary Stead said Williamsons injury was a big blow to the national teamOur first thoughts are obviously with him were not sure at this stage of the severity of the injury Hes being assessed in the next 2448 hours so we will know more after that said Stead who had spoken to Williamson since the incident and found him in OK spiritsAll we know at this stage is its his right knee Unfortunately I cant give you much more than that now until we find out more information Stead was quoted as saying by wwwstuffconzIts not nice to see anyone let alone your captain of your white ball team being injured Its a big blow for him and its a big blow for usIn case Williamson is ruled out the Titans will ask for a replacement The probable candidates could be senior Australia batter Steve Smith who is currently doing IPL commentary and Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka who is a handy allrounderBoth Smith and Shanaka went unsold in the IPL auction earlier this yearWilliamson had played for Sunrisers Hyderabad since 2015 and captained them fully in 2018 and 2022 and partially in 2019 and 2021This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever