Due to the uncertainty surrounding Adam Milne’s ICC clearance, New Zealand altered the lineup three times before the match against Pakistan on Tuesday, according to Gary Stead. Milne was drafted into the 15-man squad as a like-for-like substitute for Lockie Ferguson, who was injured.
On Tuesday, October 26, New Zealand made a poor start to the T20 World Cup 2021, losing by five wickets to Pakistan at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. New Zealand scored 134/8 in their first innings, with Daryl Mitchell and Devon Conway both reaching 27. Pakistan snatched the goal with eight balls to spare in response.
The squad was dealt a big setback before the game when Lockie Ferguson was ruled out of the competition due to a calf strain. His replacement, Adam Milne, was named, but he was unable to play in the match against Pakistan.
New Zealand head coach Gary Stead explained why Milne was benched: “We wanted to play the right-arm quick, but uncertainty around ICC clearance and the rules for replacing injured players caused some confusion.” He went on to say that because of the uncertainty, they had to alter the team three times before the game.
“You always plan for changes like this,” Stead said. “What’s most unsettling for us is that we probably changed the team three times today on that decision.” “At first, we thought we’d gotten Adam’s permission to play, but it was later denied.” As a result, we were questioning it with the ICC as early as an hour and a half before the game. We attempted all we could to convince the ICC to accept our substitute player, but it was not to be.
“That was a huge disappointment for us since we had Adam Milne lined up as a like-for-like replacement.” They don’t issue approval on the same day, according to what we’ve been informed, so we’ll challenge that and continue to seek clarity.”
Ish Sodhi was New Zealand’s best bowler, finishing with 2/28, while Trent Boult, Tim Southee, and Mitchell Santner each took a wicket. Stead went on to say that the management planned to play Milne over Sodhi because the Sharjah pitch was better suited to seamers.
“We weren’t going to play Ish Sodhi because we thought the pitch would suit the seamers a lot better, and the up-and-down nature of the pitch, as well as the work we’d done around scouting and what the data was telling us, pointed to seam bowlers and pace bowlers being more effective.” “That’s how we’d have gone,” he admitted.
On Sunday, October 31, New Zealand will face India at the Dubai International Stadium.
