Cricket: Black Caps captain Kane Williamson posts worst batting season in IPL history

Kane Williamson’s return to the crease is not expected.

The Black Caps skipper, who missed four months of cricket with an elbow injury, compiles the worst statistical batting season in Indian Premier League history.

Williamson will surely be delighted to simply be back in the middle, having successfully dealt with the nagging elbow injury that caused him to miss the summer at home.

And the Black Caps, who are preparing for next month’s three-Test series in England, will also be pleased with their captain’s progress from a fitness perspective.

But Sunrisers Hyderabad have suffered from Williamson’s lack of form, especially as they paid $2.7 million to retain him.

Far from justifying the financial outlay, Williamson has been a key factor in the Sunrisers’ 5-6 record this season, with the stats painting an unsightly picture.

Cricket analytics firm CricViz uses a tool to measure a player’s batting impact by calculating the number of runs over the average player a batsman contributes. It takes into account the game situation and provides a finer indicator of the value of a batsman’s innings.

Using this tool, CricViz calculated that Williamson’s average batting impact over this IPL season is -9.0, which means each of the Kiwi’s innings subtracted nine points from what the average player should contribute.

It is, according to CricViz, the lowest number for any batsman in any of the 15 IPL seasons, with a minimum of 100 balls faced.

Williamson faced 207 deliveries this season while scoring 199 runs, good for a 96.1 strike rate with a 19.9 average.

In one of the highest scoring IPL seasons, he has the 40th most runs scored, but only two of the batsmen ahead of him have strike rates below 120 – Virat Kohli (111.3) and Ishan Kishan (117 ,2).

Given that Williamson has opened the batting in each of the Sunrisers’ 11 games, his occupation of the crease while scoring so slowly has hurt the ability to post competitive totals.

Particularly damning, the 31-year-old scored just 101 points on 127 deliveries during the power play.

According to CricViz, no player in IPL history has scored slower against so many balls.

Sunrisers coach Tom Moody said he had thought about dropping Williamson in order but, after being exhausted without facing a ball in his last game on Monday, he backed his captain to find the form.

“To be fair to Kane, he hasn’t even faced a ball so it will be quite difficult to judge his form on [that] out,” Moody said. “We support him. He is a world-class player, without a doubt. He will have his moment to mark his authority on the tournament.”

Williamson is running out of chances. The Sunrisers have three games left in the round robin and will need wins to reach the playoffs.

“It’s been quite a challenge for us,” Williamson said of the season.

“The batting has been quality, but as a unit there are areas to address. It’s about looking to stay calm. We need to improve, but we don’t need to overthink things. margins are still good,” he said.

The Black Caps would hardly be disappointed if Williamson’s side missed out on the final, as it would speed up their arrival in England and buy them more time to prepare with the Dukes’ red ball.

His ability to score quickly won’t be a factor in the Test series, so his form is unlikely to be of concern to coach Gary Stead.

Much more important is Williamson’s health, but the Sunrisers have certainly paid a heavy price for his time in rehab.