New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson has been ruled out of the remainder of the T20I series against India and will be replaced by Matt Fisher. The fourth T20I between the sides will take place on October 30 at Eden Park.
New Zealand Cricket stated in a release that Ferguson experienced a pain in his right-calf during the second T20I at Hagley Oval and scans confirmed a low-grade tear. He is expected at least another week of recovery before returning to play.
On the other hand, Matt Henry also suffered a low-grade tear in his right quadricep during the second T20I which will require one to two weeks of recovery.
“We’re gutted for Lockie and Matt. Injuries are part and parcel of international cricket but it doesn’t make it any easier when you have to miss games. Fortunately for Matt he was already going to sit out on the rest of the T20Is with an eye to his big summer schedule, and we’re hopeful he’ll still play a key role in the ODIs. I know Lockie was fizzing to play in front of a sell-out home crowd at Eden Park tomorrow, but he’s determined to be back for the ODIs,” said Rob Walter, New Zealand’s head coach as quoted by Cricbuzz.
Henry is on track for the upcoming five-match ODI series who was sidelined due to planned workload management. Kyle Jamieson will remain in Wellington and is available for the second round of Ford Trophy on Saturday, October 31 before re-joining the national team on Monday for the ODI series.
The Men in Blue have already sealed the series 3-0 completely outperforming the hosts. Recently, in the third T20I, Abhishek Sharma damaged the Kiwis, scoring 113 in 38 balls and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi also contributed 45 runs in 19 balls. India have been chasing all three games in this series and will look to see how their bowling unit will defend the total in the final two matches of the T20I series.
