Southampton: New Zealand players involved in the now-suspended IPL-14, including skipper Kane Williamson, have joined the team’s training session. The team are preparing for the upcoming two-match Test series against hosts England. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said Monday that the IPL contingent has undergone RT-PCR tests before joining the others. The Kiwis who took part in the IPL are Kane Williamson, Kyle Jamieson, Mitchell Santner, team physio Tommy Simsek and Chris Donaldson, the national team’s strength and conditioning coach.
“Back together! In positive news the IPL contingent has joined team training for the first time today (Monday). In not so positive news the team are training inside again,” the BLACKCAPS tweeted.
The Kiwis are scheduled to play England in two Tests in the first and second week of next month. After that they will face India in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final June 18-22.
Senior New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor said Sunday the suspension of the IPL ‘played into India’s hands’. He said that it will give Virat Kohli’s team more time to get acclimatised to English conditions before the inaugural WTC final.
“For India, IPL finishing early under unfortunate circumstances has probably played into their hands a little,” Taylor had said.