New Zealand is currently preparing once again to challenge India on their home turf. The last time they toured India, the Kiwis had to endure a 0-3 loss in the Tests and went down 2-3 in the closely fought ODI series.
They will be left to face with the same set of a task once again with the three ODIs and three T20Is series starting on October 22.
The Blackcaps are not taking anything lightly despite being termed as the least favourites to win. The selection policy utilised to pick the suitable squad reflect the importance they have for the series. As of now, only nine players – Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Trent Boult – have been confirmed in the 15-man squad with the rest of the player to be selected from the New Zealand A squad.
Mike Hesson, the New Zealand coach, feels that key to their success would depend on their ability to adapt to the conditions. He also stated that the players selected from the New Zealand A squad, who recently played in India, will have to be at their best while even admitting that the anus will be on the seniors eventually.
“You know going over there that you have to perform, otherwise you get taught a pretty harsh lesson. It’s important for us to adapt really quickly,” he said on Thursday (October 12).
“The beauty of an ‘A’ tour means we’ve already got people in India, adapting to conditions, so when they come in they should be as familiar as they’re going to be,” he pointed out. “We’re going to rely a lot on the experience of our senior players.”
Hesson also revealed that the team is planning a different approach which may see top order batsman Latham come down to bat in the middle order to counter the effectiveness of Indian spinners.
He also confirmed that the side is looking for a different wicket-keeping option with Latham being the first choice.
“It would be fair to say, Martin and Tom, although they have had some outstanding performances individually, haven’t clicked at the top and certainly haven’t generated a strike-rate as a pair that we’d like,” Hesson said about the decision to move Latham down the order.
“We’ve got three others on the New Zealand A tour [of India] currently – we have people over there having a real close eye on that.
“Glenn’s certainly a wicketkeeper, he has kept for New Zealand Under-19s, he has kept for Auckland in all formats, he played for us in the T20 against South Africa [in February] a very good batsman in his own right and also a developing keeper.
“Tom’s still the most experienced of those keepers, the other three are still developing. But we’ve got some good intel on the ground coming in, and we’ll make a decision on that in the next few days.”
Colin Munro and George Worker are probably the top choices to fill the place with Martin Guptill in the top order.
“We need to generate a strike rate at the top,” he said. “We’re looking at the two guys who are doing it at the moment [with the A team], Colin and George – guys who have the ability to create a strike rate at the top of the order. The beauty of Colin is he is a boundary hitter. He doesn’t so much adapt to conditions, he plays one way – batting in the middle order can make that difficult, and he has had success since we moved him up in T20s.”
New Zealand will start their tour with two warm-up games against Board President’s XI in Mumbai on October 17 and 19 before the three ODIs and three T20Is.