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Home > Sports News > Cricket News > Article > Kanpur Test New Zealand are up against the odds vs India

Kanpur Test: New Zealand are up against the odds vs India

Updated on: 22 September,2016 08:28 AM IST  | 
Santosh Suri |

Having not won a Test series in India in 61 years, New Zealand will have their task cut out against the hosts and history in first Test starting today

Kanpur Test: New Zealand are up against the odds vs India

New Zealand spinners Mitchell Santner (left), Ish Sodhi and Mark Craig (right) chat during a training session in Kanpur on the eve of the first Test vs India at Green Park Stadium yesterday. Pic/AFP

New Zealand spinners Mitchell Santner (left), Ish Sodhi and Mark Craig (right) chat during a training session in Kanpur on the eve of the first Test vs India at Green Park Stadium yesterday. Pic/AFP
New Zealand spinners Mitchell Santner (left), Ish Sodhi and Mark Craig (right) chat during a training session in Kanpur on the eve of the first Test vs India at Green Park Stadium yesterday. Pic/AFP


Kanpur: Is it the best prepared and the most balanced New Zealand side to tour Indian shores in recent times? Team India's head coach Anil Kumble has a healthy regard for the visitors, while skipper Virat Kohli, too, rates them highly.


But any Kiwi side that comes visiting India for a Test series has had to carry a huge burden of history, which says that they have managed to win just two of the 31 Test matches in 10 trips since 1955.


Burdened by statistics
Any team can get buried under the burden of such depressing statistics. However, both the Indian team management and the critics are not willing to write off this bunch of talented players before the start of the three-match series, which begins here today.

Though New Zealand are likely to encounter difficult conditions in form of turning tracks, but they are no strangers to what awaits them, as most of their players have been playing regularly in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

"Many of us have been featuring in the IPL. That experience will help us adapt to the conditions quickly. We know not many foreign teams have won in India, but we have to be positive," New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson said.

Spinner will be key
"Of course much will depend on how well our spinners bowl," Williamson added. The Kiwi skipper is well aware of the tough spin test they will be up against, "but we have three good spinners (Ish Sodhi, Mitchell Santner and Mark Craig), who can give India a taste of their own medicine."

Kiwi's two Test wins in India date a long way back, the first one in 1969 and the last in 1989 — that is 27 years ago, and Williamson, when queried on the effect it will have on the present side, claimed that the team carries no such baggage, but said it is time for the team to finally set the record straight.

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