Kane Williamson returns as Captain, New Zealand announce squad for T20I series against Pakistan

In a recent development, New Zealand Cricket has announced their T20I squad for the upcoming series against Pakistan, commencing on January 12 at Eden Park. 

However, in a surprising turn of events, New Zealand Cricket coach Gary Stead announced that the breakout star of 2023, Rachin Ravindra, will be taking a well-deserved break during the upcoming five-match Twenty20 series against Pakistan. In the same vein, Stead pointed out that this was an effort to manage his workload as the southpaw has played cricket non-stop for nearly five months.

“Rachin’s a young player who has immense value to New Zealand Cricket and we therefore want to look after his wellbeing. He’s the only player or staff member to have been touring non-stop for the past five months across five countries and that’s simply not sustainable. He’s still very much part of our thinking for the T20 World Cup in June and will come back into the reckoning for the T20 series against Australia in February," Stead said as quoted by stuff.co.nz.

Notably, the absence of Ravindra opens up the discussion around the return of pace bowlers Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson, both recovering from injuries. Henry, who was ruled out of the Cricket World Cup with a hamstring injury, is set to make his comeback in a Super Smash contest, facing the Central Stags on Friday.

Pacer Lockie Ferguson returns to New Zealand side, Jamieson-Bracewell still nursing their injury

The fiery New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson, who got sidelined due to an Achilles injury during the recently concluded ODI World Cup, has been named for the final three matches of the series. This means that fast bowler Ben Sears, who impressed against Bangladesh, will be in action only for the first two games only.

Additionally, Kyle Jamieson and Michael Bracewell won't be participating due to injury. Bracewell, who suffered a serious Achilles injury in England seven months ago, is set to make his comeback in the Super Smash for Wellington Firebirds against the Auckland Aces at Eden Park’s outer oval on Thursday.

New Zealand T20I Squad:

Kane Williamson (C), Finn Allen, Mark Chapman, Josh Clarkson*, Devon Conway (wk), Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Adam Milne, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Ben Sears, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi, and Tim Southee.