Mitchell Santner, the captain of New Zealand’s white ball team, suffered a grade three ACL shoulder injury during the Indian Premier League, which will keep him out of action for at least a month.
On April 23, while fielding during the Mumbai Indians’ game against the Chennai Super Kings, the 34-year-old hurt his left shoulder.
“Santner returned home to New Zealand this week and saw a specialist this morning who confirmed a rest and rehabilitation period of at least one month,” New Zealand Cricket said on Friday.
The spin-bowling all-rounder will therefore miss both the first Test against England and the one-off Test against Ireland after making a brilliant diving catch to eliminate CSK’s Kartik Sharma off Jasprit Bumrah but hitting his shoulder and head on the ground.
“His availability for the second and third Tests to be evaluated at a later date,” NZC said.
The one-off four-day Test against Ireland starts at Stormont in Belfast on May 27. The three Tests against England will take place at Lord’s (June 4–8), The Oval (June 17–21), and Trent Bridge (June 25–29), respectively.
