New Zealand all-rounder Todd Astle faces a race against time to get fit for the upcoming three-match One-Day International series against India, starting October 22. The 31-year old is in danger of being ruled out of the series after suffering a groin strain in the ongoing warm-up game against Board President’s XI at the Brabourne stadium, on Tuesday (October 17).
Astle suffered the injury while bowling his very first over in the game as he went out of the game after bowling just three balls before skipper Kane Williamson completed the over.
According to Cricbuzz, New Zealand’s team spokesperson confirmed that the leg-spinner would be further assessed by the support staff before a call would be taken on the player’s participation.
Meanwhile, if Astle is ruled out of the series, it will be a big blow for the Black Caps on the spin-friendly wickets of India. He was in fine form in the recently-concluded One-Day series between India A and New Zealand A, taking six wickets at an impressive average of 27.83. The performance saw him getting selected in the ODI series ahead of Ish Sodhi.
Gavin Larsen, New Zealand selector, had lauded Astle’s efforts in the second One-Day game in Vizag.
“Nine overs, four for 22 against very good opposition [against India A in Vizag] with a damp-ish ball that was hard to control. He didn’t bowl a bad ball in that spell. The one and only Rahul Dravid said to me he told his team that he’d just witnessed one of the best legspin displays in Indian conditions. That’s some accolade,” Gavin had said.
In case, Larsen fails to recover, Sodhi is likely to replace him. The leg-spinner has been added as cover in the ODI squad and has been picked in the T20I squad.
Meanwhile, Board President’s XI posted a challenging 295 for 9 in the allotted 50 overs. Openers Prithvi Shaw, Lokesh Rahul and Karun Nair struck half-centuries while Trent Boult picked up five wickets.
Squad for the upcoming ODI series:
India:
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur.
New Zealand:
Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Kane Williamson(c), Ross Taylor, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Trent Boult, Todd Astle, Matt Henry, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips, George Worker, Henry Nicholls