New Zealand head coach Gary Stead confirmed that star all-rounder Daryl Mitchell will travel to Australia for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2022, which is scheduled to start on October 16.
The 31-year-old’s participation in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022 was in doubt after he fractured a finger on his right hand while batting in the nets ahead of the T20I tri-series at home against Pakistan and Bangladesh, which ruled him out of the home series.
Well, on Monday (October 9), New Zealand confirmed that Mitchell would travel to Australia with the rest of his squad this week for the showpiece event. However, Stead admitted that he is unlikely to feature in New Zealand's opening match at the T20 World Cup 2022 against Australia on October 22.
As reported by ICC, Gary Stead said in a statement: “The good news is we have made a decision about Daryl Mitchell and he will tour with us to the World Cup. When we thought about the value Daryl brings to the team and the likely time frame...we are still hopeful he'll be right for the first game but probably more realistically the second game.”
The coach added, “There will still be four pool games to go and then hopefully semi-final and final after that. Daryl has showed the value to this team and we feel it was the right decision to make.”
Meanwhile, Mitchell told reporters: “Obviously it's a massive relief, but it's really nice to get the nod and give this hand a chance to be ready. The fracture is in a good spot and it's going to be able to heal in time.”
New Zealand T20 World Cup 2022 squad:
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, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee
(With AFP Inputs)
