Windies have received three jitters ahead of the start of the limited-overs series against hosts, New Zealand as Marlon Samuels, Alzarri Joseph and Sunil Narine have been ruled out of the series due to one or the other reason.
While Samuels was a part of both ODIs and T20Is, Joseph was named in just the ODI squad where Narine was named in the T20I side.
Samuels has been ruled out of the series due to injury on his right hand. Joseph, who didn’t play in the Test series despite being part of the team, has been ruled out due to back strain. Narine has himself pulled out of the series due to personal reasons.
Windies have called in Sheldon Cottrell and Shimroon Hetmyer for ODIs whereas Chadwick Walton, who is a part of the T20I side, will now also join the ODI team.
Sunil Ambris, who owns a unique record of being dismissed hit wicket twice in his first two Tests, has already been ruled out due to a fractured forearm.
The visitors have already lost Test series by a margin of 2-0 and will have an upward job to change the fortunes in the limited overs format.
In the first Test, Neil Wagner shone for New Zealand and riding on his nine-for in the game; Kiwis delivered the first punch by defeating Windies by a margin of an innings and 67 runs. In the second Test, Windies found themselves short by 240 runs.
New Zealand are favourites to win the ODI series as well, but in T20Is, Kiwis will have to wary of the Carlos Braithwaite side.
Meanwhile, New Zealand have also announced their squad. They have decided to rest Kane Williamson and Tim Southee for the last two ODIs while Mitchell Santander will miss the first ODI. Toom Latham will take up the captaincy job in Williamson’s absence.
The three-match ODI series starts on December 20.
Updated squads –
ODI: Jason Holder (c), Chris Gayle, Kyle Hope, Shai Hope (wk), Jason Mohammed, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Chadwick Walton, Kesrick Williams, Ronsford Beaton, Shannon Gabriel, Sheldon Cottrell, Evin Lewis, Nikita Miller, Ashley Nurse.
T20I: Carlos Brathwaite (c), Chris Gayle, Jason Mohammed, Ashley Nurse, Kieron Pollard, Rovman Powell, Andre Fletcher, Shai Hope, Jerome Taylor, Chadwick Walton, Kesrick Williams, Samuel Badree, Ronsford Beaton, Rayad Emrit.
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