IPL 2021: Here's why Kane Williamson is not playing against Mumbai Indians

The 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has truly been forgettable for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Nothing really went their way as the 2016-season champions endured one humiliating loss after another. In order to change their fortunes, the team management even sacked David Warner as captain midway through the season, giving the leadership role to Kane Williamson.

However, this move didn’t help SRH either as for the first time in six seasons, the Orange Army got knocked out of the playoff race. In their last league-stage game of the competition, SRH took the field against defending champions Mumbai Indians, who are fighting tooth and nail to earn a place in the playoffs. With this fixture being a dead rubber, SRH, like previous matches, were set to give chances to players warming the benches.

However, the biggest surprise was the absence of skipper Kane Williamson from the playing XI. Even vice-captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar wasn’t available. As a result, fans got to see Manish Pandey coming out for toss. The veteran batter made his captaincy debut in IPL and fans were shocked. After all, the right-handed batter got dropped from the playing XI after a couple of failures after the season resumption.

Kane Williamson has a niggle on his elbow, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has a niggle too: Manish Pandey

During the toss session, Pandey revealed that Williamson is out due to a niggle and Bhuvneshwar isn’t entirely fit either. Hence, he will handle the reins in SRH’s last assignment this season. “My first game as IPL captain. Last-minute call. Kane had a niggle on his elbow, Bhuvi has a niggle too,” Pandey said during the toss.

Meanwhile, the stand-in SRH captain also said he’s side is ready to embrace the MI challenge. We would have batted first too. We will look to bowl first and look to give Bombay a little chance. I know they are going to come all guns blazing but we are ready. For the unversed, Mumbai Indians, in order to qualify for the playoffs, need to win this game by at least a margin of 171 runs. Although the task looks practically impossible, the five-time champions won’t go down without putting up a fight.