Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson is ruled out of the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh but is in line to return by the start of IPL 2021. New Zealand will be playing a short ODI series against the Bangla Tigers and Williamson will miss it due to an elbow injury. However, their coach Gary Stead has assured that the Kiwi skipper will be fit in time for IPL 2021.

NZC on Tuesday confirmed that skipper Kane Williamson has been ruled out from the upcoming three-match ODI series against Bangladesh due to a left elbow injury. Williamson has a small tear in his left-elbow tendon and he had been experiencing irritation in the back-half of the summer.

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Kane Williamson Will be Fit By Three Weeks: Gary Stead

“It’s likely in about three weeks that Kane will be pretty close to being right up ready to go so that fits in with the time frames around the start of the IPL. We’ll keep talking with him and Sunrisers Hyderabad as well and just making sure he is 100% before he starts again,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Stead as saying.

“What we want Kane to do be able to do is bat pain-free and bat for long periods of time. We’ve taken that view, looking after him after making sure his body is in the best condition it can be is paramount for us. I don’t expect there will be any long-term problems with this, just this period of rest is what he needs right now,” he added.

Meanwhile, New Zealand Cricket’s Medical Manager Dayle Shackel has said that Kane Williamson’s injury will require close monitoring. He further said along with rehabilitation, he will require adequate rest as well to get the energy back on his body.

“Kane’s been managing the elbow injury to varying degrees this summer and unfortunately it hasn’t improved. He obviously has a high volume of training and playing across the three formats, which has inhibited his ability to recover. We believe he now needs a period of rest and rehabilitation to get the injury right,” Shackel said in an official NZC release.

The Kiwi team has started training on Tuesday morning. The first of the three-match series will be played on March 20 at the University of Otago Oval in Dunedin.

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