New Zealand’s stand-in captain Tom Latham confirmed that Kane Williamson hasn’t fully recovered from his thumb injury yet and he will miss the all-important match against India on Sunday (October 22) in the 2023 World Cup. He also revealed that Tim Southee remains available for selection, having not played in this edition so far as well. Notably, Williamson played his first game of the tournament against Bangladesh in Chennai but sustained a thumb injury during the match, which caused him to miss the Afghanistan clash. Meanwhile, Southee also sustained a fractured thumb during last month’s ODI series against England and he hasn’t played since as well.

Speaking ahead of the game on Sunday at a presser, Latham added: “Obviously great to see you know that they’re there for another week and good luck to them next week’s going to be a great contest and yeah Kane’s obviously, still nursing his thumb injury. It’s a day-by-day process with him as well. Fingers crossed he’ll be available for later on in the tournament. And in regards to Tim, he’s available for selection.”

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However, New Zealand are in great form and they are placed at the top of the points table by winning all four games they have played so far. With India yet to beat them in an ICC event since 2003, Tom Latham suggests that past events don’t matter now as they are also focusing on getting a win in Dharamshala.

“I’m not sure to be honest. They’re a fantastic team. They’ve been playing some great cricket for a long period of time. We’ve had some great contests in ICC events, but also in bilateral series, whether that be home or away. We’ve played each other quite a lot over recent years, which has been really cool. So yeah, I’m not too sure as I said just before – for us, it’s just about trying to play our game plan as best we can and try to execute it as well as we can and if we do that then we know we can beat any team in the world on our day,” Tom Latham concluded.