New Zealand has had a blow landed on their preparations for the first T20I against Australia, with ace opener Rachin Ravindra now ruled out owing to injury for the entire three-match series. The hosts have drafted in the seasoned all-rounder Jimmy Neesham to fill in for Ravindra.
Earlier, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) revealed that Rachin Ravindra knocked himself against a boundary hoarding, sustaining a facial injury in fielding training yesterday. He was at first being treated and monitored by the New Zealand medical team.
However, head coach Rob Walter gave more detail, stating that Ravindra suffered a serious laceration to his upper lip and nose, which required urgent specialist attention, ruling him out of the three-match series at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui. Walter further said that the decision by the management to take Ravindra out of the T20I squad was to give him enough time to recover before the Test series against England at home.
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Ravindra’s injury is surely a huge blow for the home side, for surely, he could have turned out to be their game changer against a strong Australian line-up in the top order.
Neesham Joins BlackCaps Squad as Replacement for Ravindra
The veteran all-rounder Jimmy Neesham has been called back to the T20I squad, the BlackCaps squad as a replacement for Rachin Ravindra. Neesham has been a fairly good performer for New Zealand in T20Is.
In his 84 T20 Internationals, Neesham has managed to grab 955 runs at the fantastic strike rate of 151.82 along with 47 wickets. And with the BlackCaps bringing in a finisher as a replacement for Ravindra, it means either Tim Seifert or Tim Robinson could open with Devon Conway against the Australians.
The Revised New Zealand Squad for the Australia T20Is
Michael Bracewell (c), Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes, Matt Henry, Bevon Jacobs, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Tim Robinson, Ben Sears, Tim Seifert, and Ish Sodhi
