New Zealand Cricket came up with a unique way to announce their 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup 2024 on Monday, April 29. The Kiwis became the first team to officially unveil their squad for the showpiece event.
The T20 World Cup 2024 is slated to take place in the West Indies and the USA, starting on June 1. Kane Williamson will resume his captaincy duties for New Zealand at the tournament. Veteran pacer Trent Boult and youngster Rachin Ravindra have been added to the squad.
The spin bowling duo of Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi are part of the squad while Devon Conway is expected to make his appearance at the T20 World Cup after being on the sidelines due to injury. Tim Southee will be leading the pace attack alongside Boult at the prestigious tournament.
As New Zealand announce the squad, the board decided to opt for two kids to name the players for the T20 World Cup. In a video shared by Blackcaps on its X handle (formerly Twitter), two young kids was seen introducing their themselves as Angus and Matilda before going on to unveil the squad.
"Good Morning Everyone. Thank you for coming here. I am Matilda. I am Angus. And Today, it will be a pleasure to announce you the Black Caps squad for the ICC T20 World Cup in West Indies and USA." kids said in the video.
This was not the first time that New Zealand Cricket came with up a unique way to announce the squad for the prestigious tournament. For the last year's ODI World Cup, New Zealand decided to use players' family members to announce their squad. Players' wives and kids were seen introducing a particular player with their role they performed and cap number.
New Zealand are clubbed in Group C alongside hosts West Indies, Afghanistan, Uganda and Papua and New Guiena. Kane Williamson-led side will begin their prestigious title quest against Afghanistan on June 7, followed up with the matches against two-time champions West Indies, Uganda and Papua New Guinea on June 12, 14 and 17, respectively.
The Kiwis are among the favourites to win the T20 World Cup this time. New Zealand reached the final of the tournament in 2021 but ended up as runner-ups after losing to first-time champions Australia.
