BLACKCAPS ANNOUNCE SPIN-HEAVY SQUAD FOR INDIA TOUR.

New Zealand have announced their squad for the upcoming India test series, the highlight of the squad remains Trent Boult’s unavailability and inclusion of 5 spinners. The upcoming India series will mark the start of second edition of New Zealand’s ICC World Test Championship Cycle. The T20I series will see the same squad that’s currently participating in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup.

BLACKCAPS SQUAD FOR INDIA SERIES : Kane Williamson (C), Tom Blundell (wk), Devon Conway, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Will Somerville, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Will Young, Neil Wagner.

Blackcaps Head Coach, Gary Stead stated, “Trent has already spent the best part of 60 days in hard managed isolation this year, while Colin had been on the road since May until recently returning home from Pakistan. From talking to both players it was clear the best option for them was to be left out of this Test tour and for them to instead focus on being ready for the New Zealand home summer.”

Stead concluded saying,”Touring India is one of the greatest experiences in cricket and I know our guys are really looking forward to the challenge. It’s fair to say we’re expecting spin-friendly conditions and it’s great to have a range of options in this department. The success of our spinners on recent tours to the sub-continent has been encouraging and we hope they can once again feature prominently. It’s really exciting to begin the second installment of the WTC and we know there’ll be an extra incentive for all the teams we play following our win in the inaugural competition.”

The India-New Zealand series will kick-start with 3 T20I’s, the first T20I will be played on 17th of November in Jaipur, the second and third will be played on 19th and 21st in Ranchi and Kolkata respectively. A couple test matches on scheduled, the first test will commence on 25th of November in Jaipur and Mumbai will host the final match of the series, the second test on 3rd of December.