IPL 2023: Ex-SRH Captain Kane Williamson Opens Up On Regret Of Not Winning Trophy As Captain

Kane Williamson will be playing for a new IPL franchise this year. He is a part of the Gujarat Titans squad, where he is going to play under Hardik Pandya. The former Sunrisers Hyderabad batter captained SRH for many years. He led SRH to final in 2018 where they lost to MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings. After a poor season in IPL 2022, Williamson was sacked as captain. He was back in IPL auction last year in December wherein GT paid Rs 2 crore to to get his services. Two days before GT's first game in IPL 2023, Williamson spoke at length about his SRH captaincy, his new franchise as well as his T20 game.

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Replying to a question from Zee News English in the pre-match press conference on whether he regrets not winning an IPL trophy, Williamson said, "Captaincy is a position in which I have been involved with over a number of years with different teams. It is not something that I have to have. You want to do as much as you can with a team (in any role)."

"Shubman Gill is a really strong competitor. I'm sure he will learn a lot from a number of leaders he plays under. He is a fantastic guy with a great understanding of the game."

- Kane Williamson pic.twitter.com/kwqafH5zae — Gujarat Titans (@gujarat_titans) March 29, 2023

The New Zealand batter further said, "Whether you are captain or not does not really change anything. I am excited to be here and playing under Hardik is going to be exciting. I am going to help in whatever way I can."

On being asked whether he will start in the playing 11 vs CSK, Williamon said, "I had a wonderful time at SRH. Really excited to be involved here at Titans. Every player has been given a role. They are all clear. In terms of final selection, we will have to wait and see."

Williamson also spoke on how playing purely as a batter is a completely different experience. He said that it is tough to keep the captaincy brain quiet as it keeps thinking throughout the game. "It certainly does not switch the cricketing brain off. Quite a natural thing to engage for me. Making decisions has been large part of my game. But when I started out as captain, I always knew it was not a forever job. I do enjoy being involved in leadership qualities though," said Williamson.