Kane Willamson who injured himself in the first game of IPL 2023, is likely to be available for New Zealand as team mentor for the upcoming edition of 2023 World Cup.Head coach Gary Stead also hinted at using Williamson as a mentor if his injury prevents him from competing in the tournament. Williamson injured his knee while attempting to prevent a six in the IPL 2023 season opener in Ahmedabad. The right-hander did not bat for the Gujarat Titans in that game, and he was later ruled out of the competition due to surgery. "It's still far too early to know. To date what we know, that's been successful. He's in the very early stages of his rehab programme. It's obviously pretty weight-bearing at this stage and he's in a brace," Stead told the media on Wednesday.
Williamson won the 2019 World Cup Player of the Tournament award for his 578 runs in ten matches at an average of 82.57. Williamson's astute captaincy has ensured that the Kiwis have reached the knockout stages of the last three ICC tournaments. "It's really just meeting milestones as we go. It's unlikely that he will be available, but we certainly don't want to rule out a person of his class and calibre and the things that he brings to this team too early in case there is that chance," he further said. Mark Chapman could replace Williamson in the World Cup squad after his strong performance in the recent Twenty20 series against Pakistan earned him a spot in the ODI series, which begins this week. The left-hander scored 290 runs at a strike rate of 166 in the five-match series, including an unbeaten century in the final game."It's not just about one knock of Mark Chapman, why he was added to the ODI squad, but there is a lot of competition for places. It's not so much about the competition, but it's how we keep building towards the World Cup and Mark Chapman is still one guy that is in our thoughts around that," Stead added.
