Big blow to New Zealand as star pacer likely to be ruled out for upcoming white-ball tour of India

New Zealand seamer Blair Tickner is highly likely to be ruled out for the white-ball tour of India that will commence from January 11. The tour will include three ODIs, five T20Is and the latter series will especially be very important for both teams with the T20 World Cup set to commence from February 7.

Notably, Tickner dislocated his shoulder during the opening day of the second Test against West Indies. He sustained the injury while diving to take a catch at the boundary. He ended up landing on his shoulder and was soon stretchered off the field. It was quite a disappointing moment for Tickner, who had made his comeback to New Zealand's Test set-up after two years and had also racked up four wickets in the innings.

Tickner set to undergo rehab

It is expected that Tickner will be out for anywhere between 6 to 12 weeks and this will see him miss the white-ball tour of India. Despite the setback, Tickner is hopeful of making his return to the side as soon as possible and has already began the rehabilitation process.

"I'm already back in the gym, doing my rehab. I feel like I'm playing good cricket, so I want to get back out there, but I obviously have to be safe. A lot of cricket to come," Tickner stated.

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Tickner also opened up about the incident that eventually led to him dislocating his shoulder and described how things unfolded.

"I had four out of six [wickets] and I was looking for more, but it sort of happened in a split second. I just dived normally, like I've dived my whole life, and just hit the ground a little bit differently. It popped out and wasn't a great experience, but luckily, there's not too much damage on the way out," Tickner further said.

New Zealand's injury troubles

This setback only adds to the Black Caps' injury woes. Matt Henry and Nathan Smith are already sidelined due to injuries while Will O' Rourke and Kyle Jamieson also remain uynavailable. Additionally, Mitchell Santner is also out of action due to injury.

These injury setbacks have led New Zealand to call up Ajaz Patel for his first home Test series since February, 2020. On the other hand, wicketkeeper-batter Tom Blundell has returned from his hamstring injury and wil;l be featuring in the third Test against West Indies.