Illness rules Kane Williamson out of Eden Gardens Test

Prior to the start of the historic Eden gardens Test match between India and New Zealand, the latter was dealt a body blow when skipper Kane Williamson was ruled out of action courtesy of an unexpected illness. While this will be a blow to the team with their captain out of action, the Kiwis will also miss an inevitable batsman when it comes to losing out on a batsman.

Ross Taylor, the senior-most batsman of the side has filled in the captaincy role. However, while the burden of captaincy has changed shoulders, Mike Hesson and the rest of the coaching staff decided to ring in the changes. One of the inevitable changes of the lot was that of 36-year old Jeetan Patel making his way into the side at the expense of the injured Mark Craig.

Reports suggest that the 29-year old Craig has taken the flight back to Wellington in a bid to regain his fitness. With Tim Southee and Jimmy Neesham still out of the side, Matt Henry has been brought in as a replacement for the underperforming Ish Sodhi. This would seem as a wonderful decision as the wicket in the Eden Gardens is a wonderful green top.

Williamson hit a classy 75 in the first innings of the first Test and made 25 in the second innings, both times dismissed only when Indian off-spinner Ravi Ashwin produced brilliant deliveries. The first Test was a special occasion for the Indians as they claimed a win in what was their 500th Test match.

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In spite of being on the backfoot for the most part of the first two day’s play, the spin twins in the form of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja impressed with some phenomenal wicket-taking abilities. Kapil Dev rung the bell to commence the start of play to mark yet another significant record in the Indian history books.