Black caps opening batsmen Colin Munro, has decided to skip red ball cricket in order to focus alone on his short form career. The veteran cricketer noted that he gave up the longest format of the game as his "passion" for the traditional format had dimmed.

"It would be fair to say that my focus hasn't been on four-day cricket this season and my passion for that format of the game isn't what it once was," Munro said. "I'm still 100% committed to playing for the Blackcaps and Auckland Aces in the shorter formats and have some big goals I'd like to achieve in the next couple of years.

"Obviously with the World Cup next year I'd love to give myself the best chance of making that squad and that's where my main focus is," he added.

Munro boasts of a healthy first class average of 51.58 and has picked up 58 wickets. He also had a very good 2016-17 Plunket Shield, scoring 685 runs at 85.62. However, this season, he has played just one Plunket Shield game, scoring four runs. The 30-year-old won't partake in rest of the Plunket Shield matches for Auckland this season.

The 30-year-old has also played just one Test (versus South Africa in 2013) compiling 15 runs at an average of 7.5. On the other hand, he has shone brightly in the shortest format of the game, with three hundreds in T20Is. Munro, who was bought by Delhi Daredevils in this year's IPL Auction for INR 1.9 crore, has composed 3712 runs at an average 30.17 and with an impressive strike rate of 148.89 in T20s.