Black Caps veteran dropped for India series

Black Caps veteran Martin Guptill has been dropped from the Black Caps squads for the upcoming Twenty20 and ODI series against India.

Guptill is New Zealand’s third highest run scorer in the ODI format and sits third in the all-time on the Twenty20 run scoring list. The 36-year-old last played against Bangladesh in the tri-series against of the Twenty20 World Cup but didn’t play at the tournament. He has averaged 33.88 in ODIs this year including a century against Ireland, his 18th in the 50-over format, but struggled in the September series in Australia.

His omission means Wellington Firebirds rising star Finn Allen will face India for the first time after being confirmed in both squads.

The 23-year-old Allen has already played 23 T20Is and eight ODIs for the BLACKCAPS, amassing five half-centuries and a hundred.

Trent Boult is the other notable omission from the squads - with Tim Southee, Matt Henry (ODIs only), Lockie Ferguson, Blair Tickner and Adam Milne filling the pace bowling ranks.

Milne is in line to play his first ODI since 2017, building on his return to the T20 International arena during the recent Tri Series and last year’s ICC T20 World Cup in the UAE.

Black Caps coach Gary Stead said it was never easy leaving out the experience of Boult and Guptill but the team had to keep looking ahead.

“When Trent opted out of his NZC contract in August, we indicated that priority would be given to those players with either central or domestic contracts, and that’s been the case here,” he said.

“We’re all aware of Trent’s world class ability, but at this time - as we build towards more global events, we want to give opportunities and experiences to others.

“The emergence and success of Finn at the top of the order in white-ball cricket means a guy of the class of Martin Guptill misses out – that’s just the nature of high performance sport.

“With the 50-over World Cup less than a year away we’re keen to give Finn every opportunity to keep gaining ODI experience, especially against quality opposition such as India.

“The message to both those players is that there’s a lot of international cricket ahead and the door is certainly not closed to them.”

The tour begins with a three-game T20 International series across Wellington (Nov 18), Tauranga (Nov 20) and Napier (Nov 22), before moving into the ODI series across Auckland (Nov 25), Hamilton (Nov 27) and Christchurch (Nov 30).

The one-day series could see Southee become the fifth New Zealander to claim 200 ODI wickets, with the 33-year-old’s tally poised on 199.

Tom Latham returns as the ODI wicket-keeper with Devon Conway continuing behind the stumps for the T20 side.

Kane Williamson will captain both sides with the T20 squad assembling in Wellington on Wednesday.

Ben Sears (back) and Kyle Jamieson (back) were not considered for selection due to injuries while Jimmy Neesham will miss the third ODI to prepare for his wedding.

Black Caps squads v India

Kane Williamson (c)
Finn Allen
Michael Bracewell
Devon Conway (wk)
Lockie Ferguson
Matt Henry (ODI)
Tom Latham (ODI) (wk)
Daryl Mitchell
Adam Milne
Jimmy Neesham*
Glenn Phillips
Mitchell Santner
Ish Sodhi (T20)
Tim Southee|
Blair Tickner (T20)