The New Zealand Cricket team played their first match of the T20 World Cup last night against Pakistan and suffered a suffocating defeat. After a poor batting performance in the first innings, something good was expected of their bowling unit and it did start off well. Departing Babar Azam for just 9 runs is a good enough achievement given the kind of form he is currently in, and the match started turning towards them from that point onwards. But the middle order of Pakistan took things in their hand and they made sure that Pakistan won their second successive match and they saw through it. However, New Zealand suffered a blow bigger than the first match defeat, even before their faceoff against Pakistan had started. We are discussing further about that, in this article.
New Zealand’s star pacer Lockie Ferguson, who was one of the most prominent wicket takers in the later phase of IPL 2021 for his franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, has been ruled out of the entire T20 World Cup, owing to a calf tear. The injury is serious and will keep him out of the field for a couple of months which means that he will not only miss the T20 World Cup, but also the series against India, which will follow.
This is a major blow to New Zealand’s ambitions of making it to the knockouts as Lockie Ferguson was one of the key weapons in their bowling unit. He has now been replaced with fellow Kiwi fast bowler Adam Milne.
“It’s a real shame for Lockie to have this happen on the eve of the tournament and the entire team is really feeling for him right now,” New Zealand coach Gary Stead said in a statement.”
“He’s a massive part of our side and has been in such good form – so to lose him at this time it was a blow.”
“However, we are fortunate to have a like-for-like replacement in the form of Adam who has been with the squad training for the past two weeks.”
Star New Zealand player ruled out of T20 World Cup with a calf tear
