IPL 2021: Sunrisers Hyderabad coach reveals why Kane Williamson missed out on first game

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) head coach Trevor Bayliss has said that New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson will certainly come into “calculations” as the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) unfolds. Bayliss, in a post-match press conference, said that Williamson would have played the first match ahead of England batsman Johnny Bairstow, but owing to his elbow injury he required some time in the nets before he could be match-ready. According to ESPNcricinfo, Bayliss said that Williamson will definitely come into play in the upcoming matches of the tournament. 

Williamson suffered an elbow injury during New Zealand’s T20I series against Australia last month. Williamson got very few runs in the series but he did play all the games despite the injury. The Kiwi skipper was ruled out of the ODI series against Bangladesh and was asked to rest so he could be match-ready for the IPL. New Zealand’s head coach Gary Stead had said that Williamson’s injury won’t affect his participation in the IPL and that he would be fit to play for Hyderabad by April 9. However, it seems SRH management has decided to give Williamson some extra rest and more time in the nets. 

On the other hand, Bairstow entered the IPL off the back of a good white-ball series against India earlier last month. Bairstow performed incredibly for England in both T20I and ODI series, despite his team not being able to cross the finishing line and win the trophies. In Hyderabad’s first match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Bairstow scored an amazing half-century, but couldn’t help his team win the match. Bairstow scored 55 off 40 balls before he was dismissed by Pat Cummins. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad's first game of IPL 2021

Hyderabad had won the toss and captain David Warner had decided to bowl first. KKR batted wonderfully and put up a total of 187 runs on the board at the end of the 20th over. Nitish Rana was the top run-scorer for KKR with his 80 off just 56 balls. Rana got some support from other players down the order, including Rahul Tripathi and Dinesh Karthik, who scored 53 and 22 runs respectively. Tripathi’s 53 off 29 balls was crucial for KKR to reach 187 with the bat, while Karthik’s fire-power off just 9 balls became a deciding factor.

When Hyderabad came in to bat, they couldn’t replicate what Kolkata did in the first innings as the team lost its captain in the second over for just 3 runs. Warner’s opening partner Wriddhiman Saha too went back in the third over after KKR all-rounder Shakib-al-Hasan bowled him for just 7 runs. Pandey stayed in the middle till the last ball of the innings but couldn’t help his team cross the finishing line as they eventually lost the game by 10 runs.

(Image Credit: PTI/ANI)