NEWS
Follow UsNew Zealand have not had much success in Test cricket in India. They have won just two of their 36 matches in the country, with their last win coming in 1988 in Mumbai. The Blackcaps are coming into the series against India at the back of a 2-0 series defeat against Sri Lanka. They came close in the first Test, but were beaten by an innings in the second game - both in Galle.
Tom Latham, who has stood in as captain on numerous occasions between 2020 and 2022, has taken over the job full-time following Tim Southee's resignation. Ahead of his first assignment as full-time captain, Latham feels his side needs to play with freedom to have a chance of toppling India in their own backyard.
"From my point of view, it's about trying to continue doing the good stuff we've been doing, trying to put my spin on things," Latham said.
"It's an exciting challenging going over to India and once we can go over there hopefully [we can] play with a bit of freedom, bit of no fear and try and take it to them. If we do that hopefully gives ourselves a good chance.
"Think in India we've seen teams that have done well out there in the past have been quite aggressive towards them, especially with the bat they've looked to play a few shots, but also put them under pressure which is really important over there rather than sitting and waiting for something to happen. We'll decide on how we want to play when we get over there, but guys have got plans around how they like to approach things and hopefully we can fine tune those."
"We actually did some really good things in Sri Lanka," Latham added.
"We fell on the wrong sides of the results but there were some good things. The approach we had with the bat, apart from that one innings I thought we played really well. So it's about continuing that as much as we can and trying to play a brand that we are proud of playing and if we do that hopefully it gives us a good chance."
One of the conundrums Latham faces is whether he should go in with a bowling attack that comprises Southee or hand an opportunity to Matt Henry or Ben Sears to partner William O'Rourke, who was one of their standout bowlers in Sri Lanka.
"If you look back, think in Bangalore [Southee] took seven wickets last time we toured there," Latham said.
"Someone with that amount of experience who's done it for many years there's certainly no reason why he can't get back to where he's been in the past. He's been a fantastic bowler for us for many years, there's a reason why he's so high on the wicket list for New Zealand.
"He'll have a similar role that he has always had, whether it's as captain or in the past, someone like that who has a wealth of experience, a wealth of knowledge in all conditions, and he's done it for many years and has been successful. We'll certainly be tapping into his mind, his ideas, so looking forward to it."
New Zealand will kick off their three-match Test series against India in Bengaluru on October 16. The action then moves to Pune (October 24) and Mumbai (November 1) for the second and third Tests, respectively.
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