IPL-bound Finn Allen gets New Zealand call-up

AUCKLAND: Finn Allen has been called up for the first time to the New Zealand T20 squad that takes on Bangladesh in the three-game T20 series, starting this Sunday at Seddon Park in Hamilton. The 21-year-old opener and wicketkeeper-batsman was the stand-out player of this season's Super Smash, the domestic T20 tournament of New Zealand, amassing a league-leading 512 runs at an average of 56 and a strike-rate of 193 — featuring a table-topping 56 fours and 25 sixes.

Allen was picked by Royal Challengers Bangalore for this year's Indian Premier League season to replace Josh Phillippe.

The former New Zealand under-19 player is one of four fresh faces in the T20 side, with batsman Will Young also called up for the first time and speedsters Lockie Ferguson and Adam Milne returning after injury lay-offs.

Ferguson was the star of the early part of the home summer, claiming five for 21 in the season-opening T20 against the West Indies at Eden Park, before succumbing to a partial-stress fracture in his back.

Milne has appeared 61 times for New Zealand since debuting in 2010, but has not played for the side since November 2018 and has worked his way back most recently through a stint with the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League and has been training with domestic side Central Districts.

Ferguson, Milne and Allen will depart for the Indian Premier League immediately after the Bangladesh T20 series, where they will join Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Mitchell Santner, Kyle Jamieson, Jimmy Neesham and Tim Seifert, none of whom have been selected for this series. IANS

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