New Zealand vs Pakistan: Neil Wagner to miss the second Test due to broken toes

Neil Wagner will be missing the second Test against Pakistan owing to two broken toes and will be out of action for almost six weeks. The injury occurred when he was at the crease on day two of the first Test and a ‘toe’ crushing yorker from Shaheen Afridi, literally proved to be fatal to the Kiwi spearhead.

Wagner somehow managed through the Test match for the remaining three days with the help of pain killers. But as the match progressed, the effect seemed to wear out eventually and the team management decided, not to make him go through that process again. He played a vital role in the hosts’ victory at Mount Maunganui, where he picked up the centurion, Fawad Alam, and also the hero from the first innings, Faheem Ashraf thereby exposing the tail for his teammates to clean up.

Neil Wagner was absolutely outstanding: Gary Stead

New Zealand coach Gary Stead was quite impressed with the commitment shown by Neil Wagner and said that whatever he did out there is not everyone’s cup of tea. “Neil was absolutely outstanding, I don’t think there are too many individuals who could do what he did in that test match. Neil hasn’t traveled with us. The injections he was getting (to lessen the pain) were wearing off (quickly) and we can’t let him go through that again,” Stead told reporters at Christchurch airport on Thursday.

New Zealand will definitely be looking for a “like for like” replacement and without any doubt, it would be Matt Henry who is in contention to replace Neil Wagner. Matt Henry has recently recovered from a hand injury and he has been often drafted into the squad when a pacer gets injured.

Pakistan will be playing the second and final Test of the series at Hagley Oval, Christchurch starting from 3rd January 2021. Pakistan does have a lot of positives to take from the first Test where they showed brilliant grit and resilience against the pace quartet of New Zealand. They will be looking to end this tour on a high with a victory.