What is the update on Kane Williamson’s injury?

While Gujarat Titans beat Chennai Super Kings by five wickets in the IPL 2023 opener on Friday (March 31), there are concerns over the fitness of Kane Williamson, who badly injured himself during the game.

GT bowled first after winning the toss in the season opener at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. In the 13th over of the innings, CSK opener Ruturaj Gaikwad smashed a delivery from Joshua Little towards the deep-square leg boundary.

Williamson intercepted the ball with a leap and flicked it into the air, as he knew his momentum would take him over the ropes. In his attempt to save a six, though, he lost balance and landed awkwardly, hurting his right knee. The seasoned New Zealand batter limped off the field in pain. He did not bat and was substituted by B Sai Sudharsan via the Impact Player rule.

In a post-match press conference following Gujarat’s win, captain Hardik Pandya provided an update on Williamson’s injury:

"I just messaged him. I don’t know about the update. He has gone for the scans. So, once he comes back after the scans and the doctors check, then only will be able to know what exactly it is. Right now there is no time frame - what exactly has happened. It is the knee for sure, but I don’t know how serious it is and how much time he will take."

Williamson, who captained Sunrisers Hyderabad last season, was purchased by Gujarat Titans at the IPL 2023 auction for his base price of ₹2 crore.

The 32-year-old recently recovered from an elbow injury that had been troubling him for the last two years and even forced him to miss many games for New Zealand.

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Kane Williamson came into IPL 2023 in rich vein of form

The New Zealand batter was in terrific form in Test cricket, heading into IPL 2023. He scored 132 against England in Wellington before 121* and 215 against Sri Lanka in Christchurch and Wellington, respectively.

Speaking of his IPL career, the right-hander had a poor season last year. Leading SRH, he managed only 216 runs in 13 games at an average of 19.64 and a strike rate of 93.51.

Overall, Williamson has featured in 77 IPL games, scoring 2101 runs at an average of 36.22 and a strike rate of 126.03.