5 New Zealand Players Who Might Be Benched In The ICC WTC Final 2021

The New Zealand Cricket Team is all set to face India in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final 2021. The match will commence on June 18 at The Rose Bowl cricket stadium in Southampton, England. The Kiwis were the first team to seal a place in the ICC WTC final after beating Pakistan 2-0 in the Test series in January 2021. Later, India defeated England 3-1 in a 4-match Test series and made way to the finals.

The Blackcaps have announced their squad for the ICC World Test Championship final against India. Kane Williamson will lead the team in the match against India. Other players who are part of the New Zealand squad include Tom Blundell, Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Doug Bracewell, Devon Conway, Colin de Grandhomme, Jacob Duffy, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Ajaz Patel, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, BJ Watling, and Will Young.

The Kiwis have tough opposition in the form of India in the final and the team will pick up their best players in the playing XI in the match. Hence, many players will be benched during the match. Here we look at 5 New Zealand players who might be benched in the ICC WTC final.

5 New Zealand Players Who Might Be Benched In The ICC WTC Final 2021

Doug Bracewell

Doug Bracewell is one player who might be benched during the ICC World Championship final. The New Zealand pacer Bracewell has not played any Test match in ICC World Test Championship. He last played a Test match back in August 2018 against South Africa. Bracewell has good stats in Tests with 72 wickets in 27 matches.

However, since he has not played a Test match for a long time New Zealand might bench him for the ICC World Test Championship final against India.

Rachin Ravindra

Rachin Ravindra is an uncapped player from New Zealand who has been part of the squad for the ICC World Test Championship final. Ravindra is a left-handed batsman who has only played for the U-19 New Zealand team so far.

He has played 26  first-class matches so far in which he scored 1470 runs. He is a promising batsman for New Zealand but since he has no international experience so far, he might be benched during the ICC WTC final.

Ajaz Patel

Ajaz Patel is a left-arm spinner who is part of the New Zealand squad in the ICC World Test Championship final. He has very little experience in Tests due to which he might be overlooked for the playing XI in the ICC WTC final against India. Patel has only played 8 Test matches in which he picked 22 wickets.

In ICC World Test Championship, Patel has only played three Tests- two of which were against Sri Lanka and one against India. He was benched for most of the New Zealand Test series during World Test Championship. Therefore, Patel might be benched for the ICC WTC final against India.

Daryl Mitchell

Daryll Mitchell is another player who is part of the New Zealand squad for the ICC World Test Championship final. The right-handed batsman has very little experience in international games.

In his Test career, Mitchell has played only 4 matches so far in which he scored 226 runs including a century. He also took 1 wicket. Due to his little experience in Tests, Mitchell might be benched for the WTC final against India.

Will Young

Right-handed batsman Will Young is another New Zealand player who might be benched during the ICC World Test Championship final. Young made his Test debut last year and hence does not have good experience of playing Tests. Young was inducted into the New Zealand squad in the Test series against West Indies in December 2020.

He played two Tests and scored 48 runs. Young was not selected for other Test series of New Zealand after that. Since Young has only played 2 Tests and also did not show an outstanding batting performance in the matches, he might be benched in the ICC World Test Championship final against India.