Dasun Shanaka replaces injured Kane Williamson at Gujarat Titans

Williamson suffered a knee injury while fielding in his side's tournament opener against CSK and will play no further part in the 2023 IPL

Sri Lanka's white-ball captain Dasun Shanaka has been named as Kane Williamson's replacement at Gujarat Titans for the remainder of the 2023 IPL.

Williamson suffered a knee injury in Friday's tournament opener against Chennai Super Kings while attempting a catch on the boundary. He has subsequently been ruled out of the remainder of the campaign.

Whilst the New Zealand international will be a huge miss for last year's champions, it hands an exciting opportunity to Shanaka, who will play in his maiden IPL season.

^{Williamson landed awkwardly while attempting to take a catch}

The 31-year old is at the top of his game and will provide Titans with both versatility and leadership qualities in Williamson's absence.

He has represented Sri Lanka in 87 T20Is, captaining the side on 47 occasions.

When he went unsold in the 2023 IPL auction, Sri Lankan legend Lasith Malinga publicly expressed his shock and disappointment but was confident that Shanaka would get an opportunity.

When Sri Lanka faced India in a T20I series in January, Shanaka made 124 runs across three innings, averaging 62 and striking above 185, while across his career, he has scored nearly 4,000 T20 runs at a strike rate of 141.78 and taken 59 wickets.