“Many congratulations”: Punjab Kings wish Riley Meredith well ahead of T20I debut vs New Zealand

Punjab Kings wish Riley Meredith well: The Australian fast bowler will enter Indian Premier League 2021 as a capped overseas player now.

During the third T20I of the ongoing Australia’s tour of New Zealand in Wellington, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and chose to field first.

“We are going to have a bowl. With the drop-in surfaces and three games on it, we want to have a look at it with the ball in hand. It looks a pretty good surface and will be the same throughout,” Williamson told Spark Sport during the toss.

“On those smaller grounds you are always in the game and we tried to be aggressive with the ball for as long as we could and that’s the best way to stop the run-flow. It will be a bit bizarre (without the crowd) but it is a good thing we are able to play. Fortunate for that but it has been almost a year playing without the crowd.”

New Zealand, who would be looking to gain an unassailable 3-0 lead after winning this match, have made a solitary change by including Mark Chapman for all-rounder Mitchell Santner.

Punjab Kings wish Riley Meredith well ahead of T20I debut

In what is a must-win encounter for the visitors to stay alive in the series, Australia captain Aaron Finch also wanted to field first but was confident of his team staging a comeback and winning the five-match series 3-2.

“I probably would have bowled first as well. There might be a touch of moisture on it, seems hard underneath but happy to bat first and put up a total. We weren’t at our best in those two games but we improved from game one to game two, that’s all you can ask from a side. We are confident that we can pull it back and take it 3-2,” Finch told Spark Sport.

Much like the hosts, Australia have also made a solitary change by including debutant Riley Meredith for Daniel Sams. Having opened the bowling for Australia in both the matches, Sams had registered combined bowling figures of 8-0-86-3.

Meredith, 24, received his T20I cap from former Australia captain and current National selector George Bailey. It is worth mentioning that Meredith had made his first-class and T20 debut under Bailey for Tasmania and Hobart respectively.

In 13 T20s for Hobart Hurricanes in the recently concluded Big Bash League, Meredith had picked 16 wickets at an economy and strike rate of 7.82 and 18.8 respectively. Most recently, the 24-year old bowler had been bought by Indian Premier League franchise Punjab Kings for a mammoth INR 8 crore.