“BLACKCAPS 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.

“Santner injured his left shoulder while fielding for his Indian Premier League side, the Mumbai Indians, in their recent match against the Chennai Super Kings (on April 23).

“The 34-year-old 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,” a NZC press release said.

The New Zealand-Bangladesh T20I series is already underway. Later this month, there is a one-off Test against Ireland in Belfast, which means Santner for sure won’t be available for that game.

In early June, New Zealand will travel to England for a three-Test series and Santner, as per the NZC press release, is also going to miss the first game that kicks off on June 4. His participation in the rest of the Tests is subject to how fit he is at that time.

“The full squad for the Ireland and England Tests is set to be named in the coming days.

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,” the release said.

In the four matches that Santner played in the IPL, he took five wickets. By his high standards, he was a bit expensive, it has to be said, with an economy rate of almost 9. Against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Chennai Super Kings, he was particularly expensive.

Twice, he got the opportunity to bat, and he remained unbeaten in those two innings against Delhi Capitals and RCB.