Last Updated on 5 years by Charbel Coorey

Kane Williamson is probably one of the few cricketers in the world who can make the transition from one format to another with great ease. He may not be as flamboyant as Virat Kohli or Steve Smith, but Kane sure has the ability to adapt to any situation. This made him a great addition to IPL and SRH.

Williamson even led the SRH side to finals in the absence of David Warner in 2018. In that edition of IPL, he scored 735 runs at an astounding strike rate of 142.44, averaging over 50 in the process. But with the skipper David Warner and keeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow at the top, Williamson is finding it difficult to find a place in the side.

The reason is that they can field only two more overseas players, one of which is always Rashid Khan. Even as we saw in 2019, Williamson sat out of a few games when both of their overseas openers are playing.

Why does Williamson have to play?

When SRH took on RCB in their first match, they suffered a batting collapse after the dismissal of Bairstow. While it was unfortunate and a bit unlucky as their 4th foreign player Marsh suffered an ankle injury and could not come out to bat in his designated position, SRH’s middle order looks very thin.

David Warner said Kane Williamson had suffered a quadriceps injury and this was the reason for his absence. Indeed, the vulnerability of the batting order was exposed once their top three was back to the dugout.

The debutant Priyam Garg did not look at ease. Vijay Shankar was off-color and the pressure got better of Abhishek Sharma. Yes, they missed the services of Mitchell Marsh, but the stability in the middle order seemed missing.

So this is where the need for Williamson is felt even if the top two are overseas players. They have the luxury with the bowling department and have quality Indian options. Even in the first game, they didn’t feel the absence of Marsh as a bowler. The Indian bowlers fought back admirably in the death so there is room for Williamson at the top if he is fit enough. With that said I have no doubts that Williamson will be a great boost for the IPL and SRH, positioning his team as one of the favorites on the bookie’s eyes.

Imagine a side with Williamson to go with Bairstow and Warner at the top – they will have a much more experienced and stable middle-order. The tracks in UAE support his style of play and if SRH is hoping to go the distance, the Kiwis skipper has to play more often than not.