'We Changed The Team 3 Times Against Pakistan Since Adam Milne Didn't Get Clearance To Play'

Pakistan defeated New Zealand by five wickets on Tuesday. However, the day in the Kiwi camp had already been a chaotic one after Lockie Ferguson had to be ruled out and Adam Milne was included in the 15-member squad. 

However, New Zealand's head coach Gary Stead has revealed that Milne was not allowed to be included in the playing XI against Pakistan. 

“We tried pretty hard to get across the line with the ICC our replacement player, but it wasn't to be. That was really disappointing for us because Adam Milne is someone waiting in the wings as a like-for-like replacement. 

“What we were told is they don't give clearance on the same day, so we'll question that reason and continue to seek clarification on that,” Stead said. 

Stead said that they had to change their team thrice on that day due to ICC not allowing Milne to play. He revealed that leg-spinner Ish Sodhi was not supposed to play against Pakistan. 

"You always plan to have the changes like this, the most unsettling thing for us is we probably changed the team three times today on that decision. Originally we thought we'd got the clearance for Adam to play, but then it's been turned down. So we were questioning it with the ICC as much as an hour and a half out from the game and arriving there.

“We weren't going to play Ish Sodhi – we felt that pitch was one that would suit the seamers a lot more and the up-and-down nature of the pitch and the work we'd done around scouting and what the data was telling us was that it pointed towards seam bowlers and pace bowlers being more effective. That's the way we would have gone,” he added.

Gary Stead has, however, indicated that Milne is likely to play in the next match which is against India on 31st October. 

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"When you look at how we structure our side, we always try to have that pace dominance where we can, and we certainly lacked that."