New Zealand's Lockie Ferguson holds the ball during the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup match between New Zealand and Bangladesh in Chennai , India, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
New Zealand’s Lockie Ferguson dismissed talks of himself retiring in the near future, saying he feels that he’s still one of the best and is ready to play in the upcoming T20 World Cup. “I still feel fit, I still feel like I’m contributing. If there’s ever a day I wake up and I’m not contributing to a win, or if I don’t think I’m deserving of playing for the team, then I’ll put my boots on the wall,” he said. “But at this stage, I still think I’m one of the best, certainly ready to perform at a World Cup,” he added.
The pacer, who is currently in India to play the 5-match T20I series starting on Wednesday, said that playing here was a perfect preparation opportunity for the Kiwis for the T20 World Cup, set to be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka, from February 7.
The Black Caps will start their campaign on February 8 against Afghanistan in Chennai, followed by a match against UAE on February 10, also at Chennai. They will then move to Ahmedabad to play their last 2 group matches against South Africa and Canada on February 14 and 17 respectively.
“It’s literally perfect prep. I know they’re not the grounds potentially we’ll play, but just the experience at the time, whether there’s dew factor, whether there’s condition factor, it’s nice to get on the turf and have such a decent build-up into the World Cup,” he said.
“India are one of the top teams in the world, and in their own conditions are world-class. Much like the one-day series, the boys will play hard,” he added.
Ferguson, who is in Punjab Kings’ roster for IPL 2026, said he has been bowling full tilt for the last one week after suffering a calf injury earlier this month during an ILT20 match in the UAE. He is also set to take a short paternity break during the T20 World Cup as February 20 is the expected date for his child’s birth.
“It’s not been officially released yet, but it looks like we’re tracking all well to definitely be involved in the series (against India),” he said. Ferguson, however, was not named in an updated New Zealand squad list on Tuesday. He is on a comeback trail having not played any cricket for the Kiwis last year due to injury.
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