Mitchell Santner, a Kiwi spinner, has been ruled out of New Zealand’s first T20 against Pakistan on Friday after testing positive for Covid-19.
New Zealand Cricket said in a statement that he would be watched in the following days and will travel alone to his home in Hamilton, where the second international is scheduled for Sunday night.
The left-arm all-rounder was one of New Zealand’s standout players during their semi-final run in the 2023 ODI World Cup in India. In the subcontinent, he finished with 16 wickets in 10 matches at an economy of 4.84 and took his fine form into the bilateral series against Bangladesh.
The forthcoming five-match T20I series between New Zealand and Pakistan continues their preparations for the T20 World Cup in 2024. The Kane Williamson-led team will face the visitors, who will be captained for the first time by Shaheen Afridi. Pakistan won the toss and chose to bowl in today’s opening T20I in Auckland.