New Zealand have suffered an enormous blow forward of their third and remaining T20I towards India as captain Kane Williamson won’t be accessible for the competition in Napier due to a pre-arranged medical appointment. Williamson is predicted to rejoin the unit earlier than of the three-match ODI collection, scheduled to start on Friday.
Head coach Gary Stead knowledgeable that within the absence of Williamson, veteran pacer Tim Southee would lead Black Caps within the decider.
“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,” mentioned Stead whereas additionally confirming that the medical appointment has nothing to do with Williamson’s elbow, which has troubled him previously.
Stead additionally announced that Mark Chapman has been added because the replacement for Williamson. Chapman just lately featured within the T20 World Cup 2022 and the tri-series earlier than the multi-team occasion.
“He’s a quality player who offers good versatility in the order,” mentioned Stead relating to Champman.
Notably, Williamson’s type within the shortest format has raised many eyebrows in current occasions. The Black Caps did make it to the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-finals, however Williamson scored solely 178 runs within the match at a strike price of 116.33.
Last week, he was additionally launched by his IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad as he made solely 216 runs at a strike price of 93.51 within the 2022 season of the cash-rich league. Then within the earlier T20I towards the Men in Blue, Williamson top-scored for New Zealand within the chase with 61 off 52 balls, nevertheless it wasn’t sufficient to problem the result of the match. Overall in T20Is, Williamson has scored 2464 runs in 87 video games at a mean of 33.29 and a strike price of 123.01 with the assistance of 17 half-centuries.