The first Test is going to begin on November 25 in Kanpur and the second and final Test is scheduled at Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium. It will begin on December 3 and New Zealand captain Kane Williamson will not be a part of it. Talking about the upcoming three-match T20I series which is set to play against India, it will commence on November 17 in Jaipur. As per the reports, there was an official statement made by the New Zealand team stating that the Kiwi skipper will not participate in the upcoming match.
He will be taking a break to prepare for the 2 Tests that will be played after the end of T20Is and reportedly, Tim Southee will take the place of the captain of the team. Well, the T20 side of the team will be opening the game on Wednesday, while Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, and Mitchell Santner will be seen playing for both the scheduled series. “Blackcaps captain Kane Williamson will miss this week’s three-game T20 series against India as he prioritizes preparing for the Test series starting on November 25 in Kanpur,” said New Zealand Cricket (NZC) in their official statement.
NZC will be opening the game of the T20 series on Wednesday evening. Then it will be followed by games on Friday and Sunday night. The absence of Kane was decided much later. He was supposed to join the Test specialist group training in Jaipur. They will be especially focusing on the red-ball preparation. The team from New Zealand reached Jaipur on Monday by charter flight. It was after their match with Australia where the team had to face losses in the T20 World Cup final in Dubai. Being a bubble-to-bubble transfer, the Black Caps will not have to quarantine before the first T20I.
Their match is set with India on Wednesday. “They arrived in the evening and will be tested as per protocol before they have their practice session tomorrow,” said a Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) official and Williamson will not be here. New Zealand lost their maiden T20 World Cup by eight wickets and also few reports stated that the kiwi player had an elbow injury during the T20 World Cup. It has been challenging for him as he has been refraining from over-hitting at the nets. Well, now he is missing the ODI series at home against Bangladesh. In April, the start of the first leg of IPL 2021 in India, the Edgbaston Test against England, and the inaugural Hundred. Due to the injury, the Kiwi captain faced challenges but also at the same time managed to do his best.
The New Zealand T20 team includes Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Kyle Jamieson, Adam Milne, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips; Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Kane Williamson. New Zealand Test squad: Kane Williamson (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Will Somerville, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, Will Young.
