New Zealand to travel with 20-member squad to T20 World Cup in India

AUCKLAND: New Zealand coach Gary Stead has said the team could travel to India for this year's ICC World T20 with a 20-member squad because of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The general trend of teams travelling with 15 or 16 players changed after international cricket resumed amid the pandemic as they preferred bigger squads.

"The way Covid is at the moment and the way the world is changing so quickly, I'd probably expect there could be up to 20 people in the squad," Stead was quoted as saying by stuff.co.nz.

"In some ways, that makes it easier getting the balance you want throughout and having your people who are next in line ready to go.

"I think it's realistic to expect that there could be guys selected to go to the World Cup later in the year, who may not have played for New Zealand (in T20s)."

The next edition of the T20 World Cup is scheduled to be held in India in October-November.

New Zealand are slated to play a five-match T20 international series against Australia, starting from Monday.

"Australia are still a dangerous team. You could argue this is the form team of the Big Bash that's over here right now.

"Yes, they may not have some of those names that we expect to see, but when you look through their lineup, they're still class right the way through," Stead said of the upcoming series.