New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has missed lots of cricket in the past ten months due to his elbow problem and he recently made himself unavailable for the T20I series against India to focus on the longer format.

He took part in the first Test at Nagpur, however; he had to miss out on the second Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, due to the said injury. Tom Latham captained the side in the Mumbai Test and the hosts went on to win that game easily at the end.

According to New Zealand coach Gary Stead, surgery is unlikely but they’re not comfortable putting time frames on it at this stage.

“I think surgery is unlikely. All that surgery would do is ensure that rehab is done. If we don’t have to cut a tendon, our choice is not to do that. Kane’s doing it tough, don’t get me wrong. He loves playing for New Zealand – he hates the thought of missing any cricket, let alone test cricket for New Zealand. Last time after the World Test Championship final and before the IPL and T20 World Cup was about eight or nine weeks. I expect it’s somewhere in that time frame again. We’re trying not to put time frames on it at this stage,” Stead was quoted as saying by stuff.co.nz.

Stead feels that the requirements of Test cricket must have tipped Kane over the edge because the management of injuries is easier in T20s.

“The management of Kane through the T20 games was much easier because it’s about the load on the elbow, so as soon as you enter the Test arena and you’re looking at longer periods of time training and then batting as well, that load is what tipped him over the edge. In the shorter forms of the game it’s more manageable, in Test cricket it’s tougher,” Stead added.