The IPL governing council has given a deadline of November 15 to all the franchisees to announce their retention and release lists.
While Punjab Kings have already released their skipper Mayank Agarwal, one more franchise is all set to release their captain.
Kane Williamson set to be released by Sunrisers Hyderabad
Sunrisers Hyderabad, the winners of the IPL 2016 edition has been one of the most consistent sides for the past few years in the Indian Premier League. However, they were placed in the bottom half of the table in IPL 2022. Sunrisers Hyderabad had replaced David Warner with Kane Williamson in the 2022 season expecting some success but that was not the case.
Kane Williamson has got huge success with the Kiwis as he led them to the ODI World Cup final and won the World Test Championship in 2021. However, Kane wasn’t able to do the same for the Orange Army. His low strike rates resulted in a slow start and they didn’t have experienced players in the middle order to capitalize on the death overs.
The even bigger problem with the Kiwi skipper is his T20 form. Williamson has been criticized for his consistently low strike rates in T20s. He plays the role of anchor in the kiwi side as all other aggressive players play around him but the same strategy didn’t work for SRH in IPL 2022. The Hyderabad-based franchise is now looking for an aggressive foreign option and there are a couple of choices available for them with the likes of Cameron Green, Ben Stokes, and Sam Curran putting their names in the auction.
SRH managed to win six matches out of 14 and amassed 12 points, finishing in the 8th spot out of league standings in IPL 2022 edition while they were regularly getting a seat in the knockouts when David Warner was their captain.
Sunrisers Hyderabad already has captaincy options in Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nicholas Pooran, and Aiden Markram. Bhuvi had previously led the orange army on a number of occasions. Selecting a captain from the already available players will help SRH to focus on getting more match-winners in the mini-auction which is set to be held on December 23.