Star batter Kane Williamson suffered a quad injury and is ruled out of the second innings of the Champions Trophy final against India in Dubai. The 34-year-old didn’t show discomfort while batting but ahead of the chase, New Zealand confirmed the development as Mark Chapman has been named his fielding replacement. It is also reporThe Bsaasfafgaadsfdted that Williamson picked up the injury while batting and his progress is being closely monitored.
Batting first, Will Young departed early scoring 15 runs off 23 balls. Williamson tried to bring in some stability but he too couldn’t deliver, losing his wicket to Kuldeep Yadav. Daryl Mitchell and Rachin Ravindra looked to be in good touch but the latter failed to capitalize on his start, departing after 37 runs.
Mitchell meanwhile continued to get going and played an important knock of 63 runs. He took time to settle down and didn’t change his approach as the surface was favouring the spinners. Flamboyant batter Glenn Phillips supported him well, scoring 34 runs. Just when he looked to be changing his gears, Varun Chakravarty picked up the wicket to put on the brake on New Zealand’s innings.
Interestingly, Michael Bracewell continued to keep up with the momentum. The all-rounder managed to rotate well during his innings and ended up scoring an unbeaten 53 runs off 40 deliveries. Courtesy of his brilliant batting, New Zealand posted 251 runs in the first innings, which didn’t look possible at one stage.
Kuldeep and Varun were the stars with the ball, picking up two wickets each. Ravindra Jadeja also had an incredible day, conceding only 30 runs in his 10 overs. He also picked up the wicket of dangerous Mitchell, who could have wreaked havoc towards the end. India, on the other hand, had a terrific start with the bat in the second innings and in case they keep up with the momentum, the Men in Blue can win their third Champions Trophy in history.
