Kane Williamson, the veteran New Zealand batter will miss the second Test against India in Pune as he continues his rehabilitation from a groin strain as well, shared New Zealand Cricket in a media release on Tuesday (October 22).

However, Kane Williamson was forced to miss the first Test in Bengaluru as well as he was recovering from the injury he sustained during the Test series against Sri Lanka. He also remained in New Zealand to work on his recovery and will continue to do so as he builds towards full fitness as well.

"We're hopeful to see further improvement over the coming days" - Gary Stead on Kane Williamson

New Zealand head coach Gary Stead showed hopes that Kane Williamson will be available for the third Test.

"We're monitoring Kane and he's tracking in the right direction, but isn't yet 100% fit," said Stead. We're hopeful to see further improvement over the coming days and have him available for the third Test. We'll give him as much time as possible to get himself ready, but certainly continue to take a cautious approach."

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New Zealand started the Test series with a win

Notably, New Zealand won the first Test by 8 wickets, ending a 36-year wait for a Test win on Indian soil as well. The second Test will begin on October 24 while the third and final Test will take place in Mumbai from November 1.

However, after the first win, Tom Latham said as quoted by Cricbuzz: "The first two innings set the game up for us. We knew India would come back at us in the third innings but the bowlers asked nice questions with the second new ball and got the results. We know what a quality side India are in their own conditions. We saw what the new ball did for us so we expected them to do the same to us. We managed to build a couple of partnerships up top and I thought the partnership between Rachin and Tim (Southee) put us on the front foot when the game was in the balance. It was nice to only chase a 100."