IND vs NZ 2021: Kyle Jamieson Opts Out Of T20I Series, Joins The Test Squad

New Zealand Kyle Jamieson will not feature in the upcoming T20I series against India as he has opted out of the series and joined the Test squad, coach Gary Stead announced ahead of the first T20I in Jaipur on Monday.

Earlier, skipper Kane Williamson had also been rested from the T20I series to focus on the two-Test series, which will be part of the World Test Championship.

Kyle Jamieson, who was Man of the Match in the WTC final, didn’t feature in a single game in the T20 World Cup. However, he is likely to share the new ball with Tim Southee in the Test series as Trent Boult is returning home after the India T20s to step away from the bio-bubble.

“We decided through talking with Kane and Kyle that they won’t play in this T20 series,” coach Gary Stead said in an interview supplied by New Zealand Cricket

“They’re both going to get ready for the test matches and I think you’ll find there will be other guys involved in the test matches that won’t play the entire series either.

“It’s a bit of a balancing act at the moment and with three T20 games in five days plus travel to three different cities it’s a very, very busy time.”

Tim Southee has been named the T20I captain filling in for Williamson.

You’ll definitely see that the whole squad will get match time: Gary Stead

Gary Stead asserted that the players will be rotated considering the packed schedule. The New Zealand players flew to India in less than 24 hours of losing the T20 World Cup final to Australia in Dubai on Sunday night.

The three T20Is will be played in Jaipur (November 17), Ranchi (November 19) and Kolkata (November 21), followed by Tests in Kanpur (November 25-29) and Mumbai (December 3-7).

“You’ll definitely see that the whole squad will get match time over here and that’s about us managing the workload of the players, especially with the test matches coming up for us, which will be a real key priority for us as we work through the next week,” Stead  added.

New Zealand squads:

Test: Kane Williamson (c), Tom Blundell, Henry Nicholls, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Will Somerville, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, Will Young

T20I: Tim Southee (c), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Adam Milne, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi

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