Williamson finished the T20 World Cup as New Zealand's leading scorer, with 216 runs from seven games, including an 85-run knock in the final.
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Kane Williamson, the captain of New Zealand, will miss the upcoming three-match T20I series against India, preferring to focus on the Test series, which begins on November 25 in Kanpur. Tim Southee will captain New Zealand in the first T20I in Williamson’s absence. Williamson and the rest of New Zealand’s 15-man squad arrived in Jaipur on Monday evening, less than 24 hours after losing the T20 World Cup final to Australia in Dubai. The first game of the T20I series will be played on Wednesday evening, followed by games on Friday (in Ranchi) and Sunday night (in Kolkata). According to an NZC release, the “decision was made for Williamson to join the Test specialist group already training in Jaipur as they focus on red-ball preparation.”
Williamson finished the T20 World Cup as New Zealand’s leading scorer, with 216 runs from seven games, including an 85-run knock in the final. NZC also confirmed that fast bowler Lockie Ferguson, who missed the T20 World Cup due to a right calf strain, is progressing well and should be fit for the T20I series.
The two teams last played a bilateral T20I series in early 2020, with India sweeping New Zealand 5-0. New Zealand, on the other hand, triumphed in their most recent meeting during the group stages of the T20 World Cup. Following the three Twenty20 Internationals, the Tests will be held between November 25 and 29 (Kanpur) and December 3 and 7. (Mumbai). New Zealand’s head coach, Gary Stead, admitted after the T20 World Cup final that the team faced a “tough and challenging” schedule, with support staff juggling training the Test players in the morning and the T20I group later in the evening while in India.
“It’s the first time that I can remember that we’re so quickly into another series immediately at the back-end of the T20 World Cup,” Stead had said. “It’s definitely tough and challenging but it is what is in front of us.”
Williamson once again ended up on the losing side after stumbling in the final of the T20 World Cup 2021. Although the 31-year-old batsman held his composure as usual, the calm and collected skipper conceded that the defeat to Australia hurt a bit. Williamson said there were high hopes going into their third straight ICC tournament final, but it wasn’t their day. Australia played some powerful cricket to defeat New Zealand by 8-wickets in the final.
“Wasn’t to be today, but proud of how we’ve operated. Guys committed to what we tried to do in venues that varied a lot. There was a lot of heart shown, always nice to get to the big dance. But credit to Australia again. Some high hopes coming in, some good cricket played, so we’re feeling it a bit. There are only two possible outcomes, shame we couldn’t get the job done,” Williamson said.
New Zealand squad: 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 (capt)
