Kane Williamson, Tim Southee, Devon Conway and Mitchell Santner will soon be on a flight to India to participate in the coming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after the New Zealand cricket board excluded them from the white-ball series at home against Sri Lanka and join their respective franchise early.
At the end of the second Test against Sri Lanka, Williamson (Gujarat Titans), Southee (Kolkata Knight Riders), Devon Conway and Mitchell Santner (both Chennai Super Kings) will be released.
Meanwhile, the trio of Finn Allen (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Lockie Ferguson (KKR) and Glenn Phillips (Sunrisers Hyderabad) will be released after the first ODI against Sri Lanka on March 25.
Following the conclusion of the ongoing two-match home Test series, New Zealand will face Sri Lanka in three ODIs and three T20Is.
The IPL starts on March 31 with a match between defending champions Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings in Ahmedabad.
In the absence of Williamson, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has named Tom Latham as the skipper for the ODI series. The departure of the players to India will see Mark Chapman, Ben Lister and Henry Nicholls join up with the squad ahead of the second ODI at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on March 28.
Another feature of the squad is the return of Tom Blundell and Will Young to international white ball cricket.
NZC has named Canterbury's Chad Bowes and Auckland Ace Ben Lister as the two uncapped players in the ODI squad to face Sri Lanka.
1/10:IPL 2023 - The 10 captains and their records so far
2/10:MS Dhoni (CSK, RPS)
<p>'Captain Cool' MSD is one of the greatest captains of all time in the history of cricket. In IPL, under the leadership of Dhoni, CSK has won 4 titles (2010, 2011, 2018, and 2021). This will be MSD’s 16th IPL edition as a player overall. He handed over CSK captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja last season, but the move didn't work and MSD returned as skipper. Dhoni has won 123 games as a captain in the IPL overall out of 210 with a win percentage of 58.85%. </p>
3/10:Rohit Sharma (MI)
<p>Mumbai’s decision to make Rohit their captain proved to be a masterstroke as under his leadership MI won 5 titles (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020) which is the most by any team in IPL history. Rohit led from the front and backed his players and gave them the freedom to express themselves. Rohit has won 79 games overall as skipper out of 143 for MI and his win percentage is 56.64%.<br /></p>
4/10:Shreyas Iyer (DC, KKR)
<p>Iyer has been an exceptional leader in the franchises he has played for. Iyer is a young leader with a mission to win the title for his team. Iyer has captained KKR since the 2022 edition and he was exceptional with his leadership. He supported his players to the hilt. Earlier he has also been captain of the DC franchise. Iyer has won 27 games for both DD and KKR combined in 55 games with a win percentage of 50.90%.<br /></p>
5/10:Faf du Plessis (RCB)
<p>Du Plessis is new to captaincy in the IPL, but when it comes to his leadership, which he used to for South Africa, he is exceptional. Du Plessis got the captain's armband once Virat Kohli stepped down as skipper to focus on his batting. Du Plessis has won 9 out of 16 games as captain with a win percentage of 56.25%.<br /><br /><br /></p>
6/10:Hardik Pandya (GT)
<p>Hardik in his new franchise GT has been an inspirational captain. Pandya took the Gujarat franchise to new heights when they clinched the title in their inaugural season by defeating RR in the 2022 IPL final. Pandya won 11 matches in 15 games in his first appearance as a skipper for GT and has a winning percentage of 73.33%.<br /></p>
7/10:Shikhar Dhawan (SRH,PBKS)
<p>Dhawan has been an underrated skipper in the IPL. He is known for his calm and composed nature on and off the field. Dhawan has been appointed as the new skipper for PBKS for the upcoming 2023 edition. Dhawan as a skipper has won a total of 4 games out of 11. Though the statistics don’t match his capability, he can be a real trump card for PBKS this season. He has a winning percentage of 36.36% as skipper.<br /><br /><br /></p>
8/10:David Warner (SRH, DC)
<p>Warner is one of the greatest players and skippers in the history of the IPL. Under his captaincy, SRH won their first title in 2016. In 2023, Warner was appointed as skipper of DC, in the absence of the injured Rishabh Pant. Warner will be looking to use this opportunity to take DC to new heights by winning their first title. Overall Warner has won 35 out of 69 games as captain and has a winning percentage of 52.17% as skipper.<br /></p>IANS
9/10:KL Rahul (PBKS, LSG)
<p>Rahul is one of the brightest stars in the IPL. He has been a good leader for any team he has played for and especially for LSG. Under his captaincy, the newly-introduced team went through to the playoffs last season. He was earlier skipper of the Punjab Kings. Rahul as a captain has won an overall 20 games out of 42 and has a winning percentage of 50%.</p>
10/10:Sanju Samson (RR)
<p>Samson has been an exceptional player for RR since his debut for them. Under his leadership, RR reached the final of the 2022 IPL for the second time in tournament history. Samson has won 15 games out of 31 as skipper and has a winning percentage of 48.38%.<br /></p>Lister is fresh from his T20I debut for New Zealand in India last month while Bowes has earned his first selection in the Black Caps squad.
“It's always exciting as a coach to have new players in the environment and to have players putting their hands up to be selected again in a particular format," Black Caps coach Gary Stead said in the NZC website.
Stead also touched upon what lies ahead for the team in terms of preparations for ODI World Cup in India later this year.
“We are set to play 16 white ball matches between now and the start of May, so there will be a number of chances for players to test themselves in familiar and unfamiliar conditions.”
(With agency inputs)
