New Zealand's Trent Boult reacts during the T20 World Cup cricket semifinal between New Zealand and Pakistan in Sydney, Australia. (AP)New Zealand has dropped left-arm pacer Trent Boult and opening batter Martin Guptil for the white-ball series against India, starting from November 18.
Earlier in August, Boult was released from his central contract with New Zealand Cricket at his own request so he can spend less time travelling and more time at home with his family.
Our squads to face India in three T20I’s & three ODI’s starting on Friday at @skystadium 🏏
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) November 14, 2022
Blackcaps coach Gary Stead said it was never easy leaving out the experience of Boult and Guptill but the team had to keep looking ahead.
“When Trent opted out of his NZC contract in August, we indicated that priority would be given to those players with either central or domestic contracts, and that’s been the case here,” he said.
“We’re all aware of Trent’s world class ability, but at this time – as we build towards more global events, we want to give opportunities and experiences to others.
“The emergence and success of Finn at the top of the order in white-ball cricket means a guy of the class of Martin Guptill misses out – that’s just the nature of high performance sport.
“With the 50-over World Cup less than a year away we’re keen to give Finn every opportunity to keep gaining ODI experience, especially against quality opposition such as India.
“The message to both those players is that there’s a lot of international cricket ahead and the door is certainly not closed to them.”
The tour begins with a three-game T20 International series across Wellington (Nov 18), Tauranga (Nov 20) and Napier (Nov 22), before moving into the ODI series across Auckland (Nov 25), Hamilton (Nov 27) and Christchurch (Nov 30).
Kane Williamson will captain both sides with the T20 squad assembling in Wellington on Wednesday.
All-rounder Jimmy Neesham has been excused from the squad for the third ODI as he prepares for his wedding, with Henry Nicholls the replacement for the final match in Christchurch.
Ben Sears (back) and Kyle Jamieson (back) were not considered for selection due to injuries.
New Zealand squad: Kane Williamson (c), Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, Devon Conway (wk), Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry (ODI), Tom Latham (ODI) (wk), Daryl Mitchell, Adam Milne, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi (T20), Tim Southee, Blair Tickner (T20)