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In what is a huge blow for the Gujarat Titans, Kane Williamson is likely to miss the rest of this year's Indian Premier League (IPL) due to a knee injury that he suffered in the curtain-raiser between the Titans and the Chennai Super Kings.
Williamson suffered the injury while fielding at the deep square leg boundary and the images that surfaced did not look promising at all. He immediately walked off the ground and was eventually substituted by Sai Sudharsan, who came in as an Impact Player.
An official update is still awaited but according to reports, it is likely that Williamson will miss the rest of the tournament. If he is indeed ruled out, Gujarat Titans will have to ponder upon a replacement for the Kiwis in the next few days.
On that note, we look at three reasons why Kane Williamson's absence will be a big blow for GT in IPL 2023.
#1 Experience
Kane Williamson is an experienced campaigner who has been exceptional across all formats of the game over the last few years.
Williamson, 32, has played almost 250 T20s and has scored more than 6000 runs in the process. He has an average of 31.67 in T20s, which is pretty good and a commendable strike rate of 122.66.
Williamson's experience is something that cannot be bought and thus, his absence will give the Titans a good headache.
#2 Kane Williamson offers solidity in the batting unit
Kane Williamson as a batter offers a lot of solidity and assurance to the captain and management of any team that he plays for.
There are very few batters in the same mold as him and it will be difficult for the Titans to find an able replacement for the New Zealand batter.
Williamson is also someone with a calm head who does not get perplexed in tough situations, which is also quite a rare quality.
#3 Alters the team's plans
When Gujarat procured the services of Kane Williamson at the IPL 2023 mini-auction back in December, it seemed that he was going to be the man to steer the team in games where the scores would be on the lower side.
Now with Williamson injured, they might have to alter their playing combination to suit the team's needs. There are not many options available to replicate what the Blackcaps batter offers at No.3.
