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Eight New Zealand players likely to skip Pakistan tour due to IPL

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on August 07 announced the full schedule for its limited-overs series against New Zealand starting from September 17.

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Sky247 Staff
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Kane-Williamson

Kane-Williamson (Source: Twitter)

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on August 07 announced the full schedule for its limited-overs series against New Zealand starting from September 17. The tour is historic in the sense that the Kiwis will be touring Pakistan after a gap of 18 years. But if sources are to be believed, then eight key players are likely to give the tour a miss due to the Indian Premier League (IPL), set to resume from September 19 in the UAE.

If reports in Cricbuzz are anything to go by then the likes of Kane Williamson, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Seifert, James Neesham, Trent Boult, Adam Milne, Mitchell Santner, and Lockie Ferguson are the players that are not going to travel to Pakistan for the team’s eight white-ball matches. While the three ODI matches are part of ICC Men’s Qualifier for the 2023 edition, the five-match T20I series too promises to be a riveting affair with the third position in ICC rankings up for grabs.

With Williamson away from the series, either Tom Latham or Tim Southee will lead the side. The tour presents some young Kiwi players an opportunity to perform well ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021, set to begin from October 17 in Oman and UAE.

After the New Zealand series, Pakistan is set to host England in the shortest format for two T20Is. The matches are most likely to clash with the IPL playoffs and some England-bound players who will be in the UAE may skip the T20Is in Pakistan. England’s white-ball captain Eoin Morgan earlier this week has confirmed his availability for the UAE leg of IPL.

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