New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson will miss the third and final T20I match against India because of a medical appointment. Mark Chapman will replace him in the third match of the three-match T20I series. Williamson will be back in the squad on Wednesday ahead of the ODI series opener on Friday at Eden Park.
New Zealand head coach Gary Stead addressed that the medical appointment had nothing to do with his recurring elbow injury.
“Kane’s been trying to get this booked in for a while now, but unfortunately it hasn’t been able to fit into our schedule. The health and well-being of our players and staff is paramount, and we look forward to seeing him in Auckland.” Stead said in a statement issued by New Zealand Cricket.
The Kiwis will look to bounce back in the final match of the T20I series
India are currently leading the series 1-0 and will look to win the last match to wrap up the series. The first match of the series was washed out. The second match was won by the Men in Blue comprehensively by 65 runs with the help of Suryakumar Yadav’s sensational ton. New Zealand did not perform well with the ball and failed to deliver with the bat as well.
Speaking of the Black Caps’ recent form, they were in the 20-20 World Cup semi-final but got knocked out by Pakistan. Williamson’s recent form raised many eyebrows as he scored only 178 runs at a slow strike rate of 116.33. In the second T20I match against India on Sunday, he made 61 off 52 balls which is not exactly a stellar strike rate for the shortest format. He was also released by the Hyderabad Franchise ahead of the Indian T20 League 2023 auction which is going to be held on December 23.
The final match of the T20I series will be played on Tuesday and the Kiwis will look to bounce back under the new leader in the face of senior pacer Tim Southee. New Zealand is yet to win a match after consecutively losing 9 matches in the bilateral series.
