The Black Caps suffered massive injury blow before the fourth T20 International against India when it was announced that skipper Kane Williamson would not be able to take part in the match due to an injury he suffered during the third game at Seddon Park in Hamilton.
The management took to Twitter to announce the news that Williamson endured a shoulder injury while diving in the previous match which India won in the Super Over. The post also mentioned that they are hopeful of Kane Williamson’s return for the fifth and final T20 International.
In the absence of Williamson, pacer Tim Southee will lead the side in the fourth game. “Captain Kane Williamson has been ruled out of tonight’s 4th T20I with a left-shoulder injury (AC joint) sustained while diving in the field in game 3. He will hopefully be available for the final game of the series at Bay Oval. Tim Southee will captain the side in T20I 4,” Black Caps tweeted just minutes before the game.
Captain Kane Williamson has been ruled out of tonight’s 4th T20I with a left-shoulder injury (AC joint) sustained while diving in the field in game 3. He will hopefully be available for the final game of the series at Bay Oval. Tim Southee will captain the side in T20I 4. #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/0Igj6RMnzg
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) January 31, 2020
Williamson played a blistering knock of 95 in the previous game to take the Kiwis closer to the victory. His effortless batting made sure that New Zealand was still in the game. He struck eight boundaries and six maximums and was scoring at a staggering strike-rate of 197 during the match.
Kane is also the highest run-getter in the ongoing series. He has accumulated 160 runs in 3 matches at an average of 50.
Coming to the fourth game, apart from Williamson, all-rounder Colin deGrandhomme has also been excluded from the playing XI and Daryl Mitchell has made his way back into the team. While Williamson’s replacement is Tom Bruce.
For India, this game comes as a good chance to look at their bench-strength as they have already won the series 3-0. Sanju Samson, Navdeep Saini, and Washington Sundar have been included in the team while Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, and Mohammad Shami have been given rest for today’s game.
New Zealand have won the toss and have opted to field.
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Sanju Samson, Lokesh Rahul(w), Virat Kohli(c), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, and Navdeep Saini
New Zealand (Playing XI): Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Tom Bruce, Ross Taylor, Tim Seifert(w), Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner, Scott Kuggeleijn, Tim Southee(c), Ish Sodhi, and Hamish Bennett.
