Auckland: New Zealand’s injury-hit pace attack has suffered another blow, with Lockie Ferguson ruled out of the remainder of the T20I series against India after scans confirmed a low-grade tear in his right calf.
Ferguson felt pain in his right calf during the second T20I at Hagley Oval in Christchurch and did not complete his spell, going for 37 runs in three overs in that last-over thriller. He was rested for the third T20I in Wellington, which India won by six wickets to take an unassailable 3-0 lead, and New Zealand Cricket confirmed on Thursday that he will need about another week before returning to play. That rules him out of the fourth T20I at Eden Park on Friday, October 30, and the series finale at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Sunday, November 1.
Matt Fisher, the 26-year-old quick who joined the squad as bowling cover and played in Wellington, has been retained in his place for the final two matches. Head coach Rob Walter said the side was gutted for Ferguson, who had been keen to play in front of a sell-out home crowd at Eden Park. “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,” Walter said.
Ferguson is the second senior quick to be lost in this series after Matt Henry, who suffered a low-grade tear in his right quadriceps during the same second T20I in Christchurch. Henry is expected to be out for one to two weeks, but he had already been scheduled to miss the rest of the T20Is as part of workload management and remains on course for the ODI series, which begins on November 4. Kyle Jamieson, meanwhile, will stay in Wellington under his workload plan, play for Canterbury in the Ford Trophy on Saturday, and rejoin the national side on Monday ahead of the ODIs.
The timing could hardly be bigger for Friday’s match. Eden Park is sold out, with a crowd of around 40,000 expected — the third-biggest attendance for an international at the venue, behind only the 2015 World Cup semi-final and a 1982 ODI against Australia, and a new record for a New Zealand bilateral series, beating the 36,523 set at the 2019 India double-header at the same ground. New Zealand Cricket says more than 126,000 tickets have been sold for the India tour so far, including 71,000 for the T20I series alone.
On the field, India are chasing a 5-0 clean sweep after winning the first three matches — by four wickets in Christchurch twice, then by six wickets in Wellington, where Abhishek Sharma’s 38-ball 113 helped chase down 199 in just 13.2 overs. Tilak Varma, speaking ahead of the Eden Park match, stressed the importance of death bowling at a ground where the straight boundaries are short, praising in particular Prince Yadav’s yorker execution in the last two games. The fourth T20I starts at 12:30 PM IST on Friday, with the toss at 12:00 PM IST.
Read the third T20I report: https://t20star.com/abhishek-sharmas-35-ball-hundred-powers-india-to-series-win-in-wellington-3rd-t20i/
Read the earlier pace reshuffle: https://t20star.com/new-zealand-reshuffle-pace-attack-for-final-three-t20is-against-india-henry-out-tickner-in/
