The New Zealand team under the leadership of Tim Southee landed in the national capital on Thursday to take part in the one-off Test match against Afghanistan, starting next week. New Zealand who are the 2021 World Test Champions reached at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi at 5:40 AM and headed directly to Greater Noida, their venue for the Test match against Afghanistan. The Afghanistan vs New Zealand game will start on September 9 at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex.
The Kiwis received a grand welcome and were showered with flower petals on their arrival at their team hotel in Greater Noida. The ACB posted a video of the same. Earlier, the Afghanistan team played in India as host with the BCCI providing them with infrastructural facilities.
The likes of Rachin Ravindra and Ben Sears were already present in India as they were practicing at the Super Kings Academy. The Afghan team on the other hand will be playing without the service of Rashid Khan, who has been battling with back injury issues and as a result, Hashmatullah Shahidi will be leading the team.
New Zealand Squad
Tim Southee (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Michael Bracewell, Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (vc), Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ben Sears, Kane Williamson, Will Young.
Afghanistan Squad
Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Abdul Malik, Rahmat Shah, Baheer Shah Mahboob, Ikram Alikhil (WK), Shahidullah Kamal, Gulbadin Naib, Afsar Zazai (WK), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ziaurrahman Akbar, Shamsurrahman, Qais Ahmad, Zahir Khan, Nijat Masoud, Farid Ahmad Malik, Naveed Zadran, Khalil Ahmad and Yama Arab.
