Chennai: New Zealand has suffered a blow to their World Cup campaign as the scans have revealed that regular skipper Kane Williamson has an undisplaced fracture on his left thumb and will miss the upcoming games as a result.
The team already missed the services of their regular skipper in the first couple of games and the absence of Kane Williamson in some more games might affect their batting unit against tough bowling attacks. New Zealand's star batter Williamson was hit by a throw against Bangladesh during running between the wickets and the scans revealed an injury to him.
New Zealand coach Gary Stead stated that he is hopeful that the batter would still play a role in the tournament for the national side.
“Firstly, we’re all feeling for Kane (Williamson) to have this occur after all his hard work to return from his knee injury. While it’s disappointing news, the initial diagnosis has given us some optimism he can still feature later in the pool play following a period of rest and rehabilitation. Kane (Williamson) is clearly a massive part of our side and a world-class player and captain - so we’ll look to give him every opportunity so that he can to return in the tournament," he stated in an official media release by the New Zealand Cricket.
Wellington Firebirds batter Tom Blundell will travel to India as a cover in case, the team will have to replace the ace batter. Stead remarked that his flexibility in the batting order will be useful for the side.
“Tom’s been with the one-day side on tours to Pakistan and Bangladesh and performed well. He covers multiple positions in the batting order and his wicket-keeping skills are also an added bonus as a back-up," he concluded.
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