ICC T20: New Zealand squad profile

Ranked 4th in the ICC T20 Men’s Team Rankings, New Zealand have not won any T20 World Cup title yet.

But the Kiwis will be fancying their chances this year..

Kane Williamson’s squad is filled with star players like Martin Guptil, Tim Southee, Devon Conway etc.

They will start their T20 campaign on Oct 27 where they will face Pakistan in the opening game.

Black Caps won the maiden ICC World Test Championship in June this year by defeating India in the finals.

They also reached the finals of ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2019, however they lost eventual champions England in a high-intensity match. 

In 2021, New Zealand has played a total of 3 T20 series out of which they successfully won in two series.

Kiwis won the five-match series against Australia by 3-2 and during Bangladesh’s tour, the Kiwis clinched the three-match series in a whitewash.

Meanwhile, during New Zealand’s tour of Bangladesh in September this year, Bangladesh defeated New Zealand 3-2 in the absence of the regular skipper Kane Williamson. 

Strengths: 

With the bat, the Black Caps will have plenty of class, with Williamson joined by Martin Guptill and Devon Conway, both of whom are in the top 10 of the ICC T20I batting rankings.

Add in wicketkeeper Tim Seifert and Glenn Phillips, alongside all-rounders, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, and Mark Chapman, New Zealand should have both a powerful and adaptable batting order.

Devon Conway could be the X-factor for New Zealand as he has scored 473 runs in 14 T20Is so far.

Striking above 150, Conway could do serious damage to other teams’ bowling line-up.

The presence of Kane Williamson as skipper can also be the biggest advantage for Black Caps.

Williamson is the captain of the team for all formats and under his captaincy, New Zealand reached the final of the Men’s ODI World Cup 2019.

He showed his leadership skills from time to time and his calmness in heated situations makes him a great leader.

Weakness:

The area where New Zealand needs improvement is that they don’t have any world-class all-rounders in their squad like Glenn Maxwell, Hardik Pandya, Andre Russell.

They need an allrounder in their side who can contribute with quick runs as well as pick wickets whenever needed.

They have the services of Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, and Mark Chapman in their World Cup squad, however, these players have found it tough to rise into the ranks of some world-class allrounders.  

New Zealand squad

Kane Williamson (c) – Todd Astle – Trent Boult – Mark Chapman – Devon Conway – Lockie Ferguson – Martin Guptill – Kyle Jamieson – Daryl Mitchell – Jimmy Neesham – Glenn Phillips – Mitchell Santner – Tim Seifert (wk) – Ish Sodhi – Tim Southee – Adam Milne* (injury cover).