IPL 2023: Kane Williamson posts on SRH releasing him, ex-captain David Warner comments

After serving Sunrisers Hyderabad for eight years in the Indian Premier League (IPL), New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson will no longer be part of the franchise in IPL 2023 after being released ahead of the retention list. Williamson was one of the biggest names in the list of 85 players that were released by different franchises. The Kiwi skipper took to Instagram to share a farewell message with his franchise.

Kane Williamson pens farewell message for Sunrisers Hyderabad 

The 32-year-old Williamson was retained by SRH for a whopping sum of INR 14 crore ahead of the IPL 2022 mega-auction last year. The New Zealand skipper did not have a great IPL in 2022 suffering a dip in form. Under his captaincy, the SRH team went on to finish 8th on the points table. The Orange Army was able to pick up only six victories and lost eight matches denting their chances of qualifying for the knockout stage. Taking to Instagram, Kane Williamson thanked the team, his teammates, staff and fans for making his journey as a player enjoyable.  

Williamson's former teammate David Warner while replying to the post said that he loved playing alongside him, while coach Tom Moody in his message wrote, "Class all the way, pleasure for us all mate to share a dressing room with you!"

Kane Williamson's reaction on getting released by SRH ahead of the IPL 2023 auction

Kane Williamson admitted that he was not surprised after not being retained by SRH ahead of IPL 2023 auction. While revealing his thoughts after being released by SRH, Williamson said, “It wasn't a surprise when it [retention list] was officially released. That's the way it goes, I had a really enjoyable time at SRH, I have a lot of fond memories”.

Talking of Kane Williamson's SRH career, he joined the franchise back in 2015 and since then has remained an integral part of the team. He scored a total of 2101 runs at an average of 36 after representing the team in 76 games. Under his leadership, Sunrisers reached the finals of the tournament in 2018, as Warner was banned due to the sand-paper gate saga. Interestingly, SRH released several other players and are headed into the mini-auction with a maximum purse value of INR 42.25.

List of players released by SRH ahead of IPL 2023 mini-auction

Kane Williamson, Nicholas Pooran, Jagadeesha Suchith, Priyam Garg, Ravikumar Samarth, Romario Shepherd, Saurabh Dubey, Sean Abbott, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Sushant Mishra, Vishnu Vinod