New Zealand announce squad for T20 World Cup Team; 'TWO' big players dropped

The New Zealand cricket board on Monday released the names of the players who will be featuring in the ICC T20 World Cup, which is set to be played in UAE from October 17. The two major names missing from the Kane Williamson led team will be all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme and veteran batsman Ross Taylor. Taylor has not featured for New Zealand in the T20 format since November 2020 when New Zealand played West Indies at home.  Along with its T20 World Cup squad, New Zealand has also announced the team for the white-ball fixtures in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Ross Taylor, Colin de Grandhomme to miss ICC T20 World Cup

The New Zealand team for the ICC T20 World Cup will feature three spinners in form of  Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi and Todd Astle. The frontline seamers in the team will be Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson and Kyle Jamieson. Coming to the All-rounder option, Kane Williamson will have options of Daryl Mitchell and James Neesham. Right-arm seamer Adam Milne has also received the nod, named as an injury cover. The same 15 men will also play a T20 series against India before the T20 World Cup. 

New Zealand has also named the squad for series against Bangladesh and Pakistan for which none of the members named in the squad for the India tour and ICC World T20 will be a part.  The squad for Bangladesh and Pakistan tour will be led by Tom Latham and will play, five T20Is. The 16-member squad also includes an uncapped duo of Canterbury all-rounder Cole McConchie, and Wellington pacer Ben Sears. For the Pakistan series, some of the members of the World Cup squad like Todd Astle, Mark Chapman, Martin Guptill and Ish Sodhi - will join the side. Matt Henry too will be a part of the T20Is in Pakistan, which is set to begin on September 25.

New Zealand squad for the ICC T20 World Cup and India T20I

Kane Williamson (c), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee

Image: AP