Luke Ronchi, an assistant coach and former New Zealand international, hinted that when play begins on day two of the second Test match in Pune, the Kiwis will try to employ India’s strategy with spin.
India reached 16/1 at stumps on Day 1 after disposing of the New Zealand hitters for 259 runs because to the off-spin combination of Washington Sundar (7/59) and Ravichandran Ashwin (3/64).
“If you notice, for the first couple of sessions, the Indians were bowling quite quick — the spinners and towards the back end they started to slow their pace,” Ronchi told the media after the day’s play.
“That sort of made for variable, a bit more turn and bounce and variable sort of reactions off the surface, so that’s something we can use in our bowling innings, knowing that changes of pace are quite significant,” he added.
“Thought this wicket would turn more”- Luke Ronchi
While praising Sundar, Ronchi acknowledged that the pitch didn’t turn as much as he had hoped and that New Zealand spinners will need to be more accurate and consistent as they prepare for Day, when India will open at 16/1 after losing captain Rohit Sharma.
“Both teams could quite easily say at the start of the day, they thought this wicket would turn more than it has so far, but again, it’s just about tomorrow for us, build pressure, bowl in some good areas and get that variable bounce,” Ronchi remarked.
“We saw some balls today really jumped off a length and then some stayed a little bit, they just skidded through a little bit, it’s going to be a surface where maybe as the game goes on you’re not going to feel like you’re actually in” he added.
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