New Zealand head coach Gary Stead has said on Tuesday that they are ready to play with 3 specialist spinners if the conditions demand in the first Test of the two-match Test series, starting November 25 in Kanpur. Stead added that they are ready to be flexible with their plans, as they will try to beat India in India in Tests.
New Zealand, the winner of the World Test champions, lost 0-3 when they last time played a Test series in India way back in 2016. However, teams visiting India have struggled to face India spinners as well.
“You have to look and realise how teams come here often and don’t win. That’s the enormity of obvious challenge,” Gary Stead said during a media conference outlining what playing Test matches in India mean. “The traditional way of playing four seamers and one part-time spinner can’t be the way to go over here. You may see three spinners playing in this game and that will be decided once we have a look at the surface.”
Gary Stead also said that while the basic rules of Test cricket are the same, the approach has changed a lot considering the conditions.
Need To Cope Up WIth Different Wickets: Gary Stead
(Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)
“From our perspective, we have to change the way we play but also sticking to some of the key principles of Test cricket. We will try to be competitive for long long periods of time. I don’t think I really get to have a say in that,” Stead again shared.
“On a serious note, he said that England series was a different ball game due to multiple Test matches at the same venue. Look, there’s no doubt those were challenging conditions but the difference is that we have two Tests at two different venues and they (England) were playing multiple Tests at the same ground (two in Chennai and two in Ahmedabad),” he explained.
“We know there will be differences as in Kanpur you will have black clay and in Wankhede, you will have red clay. These are certain adaptations that we have to make,” the coach shared. “In this Covid world, it is difficult to get practice games but India is also coming on the back of T20s and is on a similar boat to what we are.”
However, New Zealand won’t have the service of their senior pacer Trent Boult as he has been rested for the Test series. Meanwhile, India will be without Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Rishabh Pant for the series while Virat Kohli will return for the second Test in Mumbai as well.
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