IND vs NZ 2021: "Kane Williamson is a big miss" - Tim Southee hints at player rotation amid jam-packed schedule 

New Zealand stand-in captain Tim Southee noted the absence of Kane Williamson, but expects the rest of the squad to step up for the cause. The pacer has been made captain after Williamson elected to drop out to focus on the ensuing Test series against the hosts.

New Zealand contested in the T20 World Cup final, a few days back. They are now scheduled to compete against India in a three-match T20I series and a two-match Test series starting tomorrow (November 17). While speaking at a press conference ahead of the first T20I in Jaipur, Southee told ANI:

"Kane Williamson is a big miss, he is a quality player and it is an opportunity for some of us to come in. It is exciting, a great challenge and honour to captain New Zealand. We had a travel day yesterday from Dubai to Jaipur, yeah guys are looking forward to the challenge of playing in India, very disappointed after losing the T20 World Cup final, but we are looking forward to having another crack in this format in a day's time."

Apart from Tim Southee, only four players have been selected for both the T20I and Test series. They are Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, and Mitchell Santner. Mitchell was a late addition to the team after Devon Conway was ruled out of the India tour. He suffered a fracture in the semi-final clash against England.

Guys will be managed throughout this series: Tim Southee

Southee believes that the entire personnel of 15 players will play a role over the course of the series one way or the other. India have also elected to rest some of the senior players like Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami for the T20I series against the Blackcaps. Southee added:

"Three games in five days with travel days in between. Guys will be managed throughout this series, but yeah, we have a squad of 15 and I am sure they will be used throughout the series."

Southee elaborated:

"It is obviously a pretty busy schedule. We knew that this would be the case leading into the T20 World Cup. We had a series in Bangladesh, guys were there in the IPL. I think with the COVID-19 pandemic, scheduling has come a lot tougher. Guys have had to do quarantine and it has been a challenge but yeah, you just have to crack on and play some cricket."

Jaipur will host an international fixture after a gap of 8 years when India and New Zealand take the field in the first T20I of the series. The match also marks Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma's first assignment as permanent coach and captain respectively.