New Zealand has suffered a major setback ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia, as key batter Daryl Mitchell has been ruled out of the ongoing T20I tri-Series against Pakistan and Bangladesh.
New Zealand Cricket (NZC) on Friday (October 7) confirmed that Mitchell was ruled out after fracturing his hand during training at Lincoln on Friday. The all-rounder sustained a blow to his right hand while batting in the nets.
Later, an X-ray confirmed a fracture to Mitchell’s fifth metacarpal (pinkie finger), while the team physio Theo Kapakoulakis confirmed that the all-rounder would need at least two weeks to recover from the injury, which rules him out of the tri-series at home.
Well, the seven-match ongoing T20I tri-series got underway on Friday with Pakistan defeating Bangladesh by 21 runs in the first match at Christchurch.
The second match of the tri-series is set to be played between New Zealand and Pakistan on October 7, and NZC said they will announce Mitchell’s replacement soon. However, the all-rounder is still likely to travel to Australia for the T20 World Cup in 2022.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s head coach, Gary Stead, said that they haven’t yet ruled out the possibility of him making it to Australia's flight for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022.
The coach said that they have two weeks’ time to decide on Mitchell’s possibility to join the squad, which is set to depart for Australia on October 15. New Zealand will play the first match against Australia on October 23 in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022.
Stead said in an NZC statement: “It’s a real shame for Daryl to suffer this injury on the eve of an exciting period of cricket for the side. Daryl’s become a really important player to our T20 unit and we’re certainly going to miss his all-round skills and versatility in the Tri-Series.”
He concluded, “With our first game of the World Cup in just over two weeks we need to take some to consider Daryl’s recovery timeline and his potential involvement in the tournament.”
(With PTI Inputs)
