Auckland, May 1 (IANS) New Zealand all-rounder and white-ball captain Mitchell Santner is set to be sidelined for at least a month after scans revealed a grade three ACL shoulder injury, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said on Friday.

Santner injured his left shoulder while fielding for his Indian Premier League side Mumbai Indians in their recent match against the Chennai Super Kings. He was spotted in the dressing room with an ice pack around his shoulder during the chase as MI used a concussion substitute for him.

Santner first sustained a niggle to his non-bowling shoulder while fielding in the game against Delhi Capitals on April 4 and sat out of the match against Rajasthan Royals on April 7. He featured against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on April 12 and also played against Gujarat Titans on April 20 but suffered another injury to the same shoulder while fielding against CSK and was thus ruled out of the tournament.

The five-time winner MI signed South African left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj as a replacement for Santner, who has played four matches for the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2026, claiming five wickets for 125 runs.

The 34-year-old allrounder returned home to New Zealand this week and saw a specialist this morning who confirmed a rest and rehabilitation period of at least one month, NZC said.

The diagnosis means Santner is unavailable for the one-off Test against Ireland and the first Test against England, with his availability for the second and third Tests to be evaluated at a later date.

The one-off four day Test against Ireland begins at Stormont in Belfast on May 27, with the three Tests against England to be played at Lord’s (June 4-8), The Oval (June 17-21) and Trent Bridge (June 25-29), respectively.

NZC said that the full squad for the Ireland and England Tests is set to be named in the coming days.

New Zealand’s next white-ball assignment is an ODI and T20I tour to the West Indies in July.

–IANS

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