New Zealand captain Kane Williamson will skip the upcoming three-match T20I series against hosts India in order to prepare for the subsequent two-Test series, the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) announced on Tuesday.
New Zealand’s three-match T20I series against India will begin on November 17 in Jaipur.
Williamson, who will however, be a part of the Kiwi squad, will focus on the red-ball preparations and Tim Southee will lead the visitors in the T20I series.
New Zealand, who finished runners-up in the just-concluded Men’s T20 World Cup 2021, arrived in Jaipur on Monday for the first T20I.
The second T20I will be played in Ranchi on November 19 while the final affair of the three-match series will be held on November 21 in Kolkata.
The two Tests will be played in Kanpur and Mumbai from November 25-29 and December 3-7 respectively.
“With the opening game of the T20 series on Wednesday evening, followed by games on Friday and Sunday night – the decision was made for Williamson to join the Test specialist group already training in Jaipur as they focus on red-ball preparation,” NZC said in a statement.
“Fellow dual squad member Tim Southee will captain the T20 side for the opening game on Wednesday, while Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, and Mitchell Santner are also available for both series,” it added.
Meanwhile, the Kiwi cricket board also informed that pacer Lockie Ferguson’s recovery from a right calf-strain continues to progress well and he is expected to be available for the T20I series.
On Sunday, the Williamson-led New Zealand had went down against the Aaron Finch-led Australia in the summit clash of the T20 World Cup 2021 by eight wickets. Significantly, it was Australia’s maiden T20 World Cup title.
BLACKCAPS T20 squad for India
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 (Captain), Kane Williamson,
BLACKCAPS Test squad for India
Kane Williamson (Captain), 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