Kane Williamson hoping to be fit for IPL 2022 after declining elbow surgery

The 31-year-old is currently undergoing rehabilitation with the intention of recovering full fitness in time to take his place in the Sunrisers Hyderabad side

Kane Williamson is hopeful of being fit to feature in this year's Indian Premier League after opting against surgery on his troublesome elbow.

Williamson has been retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad ahead of this year's mega auction, but he has missed a lot of cricket in recent months and will sit out New Zealand's upcoming Test series against South Africa.

The 31-year-old is currently undergoing rehabilitation with the intention of recovering full fitness in time to take his place in the Sunrisers side.

And there is a tentative hope that he could return to the Black Caps setup for the white-ball games against the Netherlands in March and April. 

^{Kane Williamson is recovering from an elbow injury (Francois Nel/Getty Images)}

"I've had it for a long time now, so this period of time is to try and get it right. I guess the timing of this period is sort of dictated by injury," Williamson said.

"It is progressing, which is a good thing, and there's still quite a bit of time between now and then, or now and some of the Netherlands games perhaps. There's nothing definite, but it is progressing. So I'm hopeful that I'll be back on the field as soon as possible.

"Last [IPL] season was an example as well, where I wasn't involved initially and it was elbow-related as well. The franchise was great and supportive of it.

"I'm optimistic that it will continue to improve. The [T20] format, in particular, is slightly more friendly to managing the load. So, we will wait and see, but it is taking steps forward, which is positive."

^{Williamson is hopeful of playing in this year's IPL (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)}

Williamson described the option of surgery as a "last resort".

"Cutting it off - thought about it a few times," he said. "From what I can gather and certainly talking to the professionals is that it doesn't promise; it's sort of an absolute last resort and after, if there's a real requirement of rehab and specific loading because it sort of doesn't promise.

"This [rehab] is without a doubt the more preferred option at this point of time and hopefully the one that works and gets rid of it. It is tracking in the right direction."