Kane Williamson has stated that ideally the Indian Premier League and New Zealand’s Test series against England shouldn’t have clashed, but he added that the time is extraordinary as well. Williamson further stated that he would wait and see how things progress and finalize eventually.
New Zealand Cricket (NZC) decided to sanction NoCs to every single player partaking in the IPL – even though that meant missing a part of the scheduled Test series against England just ahead of the World Test Championship final. The series will not be a part of the WTC cycle, just like the last series between the two sides in New Zealand, but it will have a lot at stake. If Sunrisers Hyderabad does qualify for the playoffs, Williamson will have to miss the series, which he feels, is not the most ideal scenario.
“It’s certainly not the preferred thing. I know when plans were put in place that wasn’t the idea then, but as we’ve seen, you can make plans in this day in age and very rarely do they go to plan,” Williamson said of the potential clash, reported Cricinfo.
“For us it’s being able to adapt as quickly as possible, we still have to wait and see when dates are finalised to truly know what is happening before any decision is made but the ideal scenario is to be available and around for all that cricket. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
New Zealand will take on Australia for a five-match T20I series, starting on Monday in Christchurch. Australia lost their last series to India and will be eager to put that behind in a series that will be an ideal scenario to test their depth ahead of the T20 World Cup in India. Williamson said Australia’s depth in the squad is scary and this should be a good series.
“They’ll definitely be looking forward to getting out of quarantine. It’s a necessity, but not something you choose to do. We know we’re up against a very strong opposition in Australia. Whatever Australian team is put out is strong. They do have the majority of their consistent T20 side there, with also the opportunity of bringing in a lot of talented youngsters they do have,” Williamson said.
“There’s still plenty of big names, as there always are. The depth in Australian cricket is something that’s always noted. A number of their newer look players have had a lot of experience playing in other [T20] competitions around the world as well, so we know they’re a very strong side.”