The biggest challenge for the New Zealand batters on their upcoming Test tour of India will be picking the turning ball and more so the odd one that skids through, reckons former Black Caps opener Martin Guptill. The finalists of the inaugural World Test Championship in 2019-21 cycle, India and New Zealand, will face off in three Tests to be played at Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai from October 16. “You feel like you can never score sometimes, that’s the hardest thing about coming here to India. The ball’s turning square, then the same sort of ball comes through and it skids on straight.
“You never know which one’s going to turn and which one’s going to go straight, so you have to always be thinking, you have to always be mentally on song and on (the top of) your game,” Guptill told PTI in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of Legends League Cricket.
Guptill highlighted importance of pressing on the advantage against India who have won their last 17 series at home.
“To try and get on top of India is extremely difficult. But when you feel like you are, you have to try and take that as long as possible in the game,” he said.
“It’s a tough place to play. It’s hot, sweaty and you feel like everything’s against you. But as I said, if you can get try and get on top of them and you feel like you are getting on top of them, you’ve got to try and go as deep as possible in the game,” added the former opener.
Given their current form, Guptill said it is tough to pick between Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah as the biggest threat for the Kiwis.
“Both of them. I mean, you can’t take away (the fact) that (Ravindra) Jadeja scored 86, 89 or something, wasn’t it? “(They had a) 199 run partnership, you think you’ve got India against the ropes and then you’ve got these two come out and bat.” Jadeja and Ashwin came to India’s rescue in the opening Test against Bangladesh in Chennai where the hosts were reduced to 144 for six on the first day, as their 199-run stand for the seventh wicket took the contest away from the Tigers.
“While Jadeja is probably the better batter, I mean, Ashwin goes about his work in a completely different way and is very effective in the way he scores his runs,” he said.
“So you never feel like you’re on top of India because they’ve got such depth, and then, obviously, you’ve got them as a partnership of the ball as well,” he said.
Guptill said young Kiwi pacer Will O Rourke’s extra pace, with which he troubled the Sri Lanka batters taking eight wickets in the Galle Test, is something that was missing from the current seam attack.
“I first faced him maybe three years ago and I was really, really impressed in how he bowled. For him to have developed further in the last couple of years and get his chance in Test cricket, man, he’s had a really good start,” he said.
“He’s got a little bit of extra pace behind him, which some of our bowlers don’t have and he’s got a bit of height, which gives him that little bit of extra bounce, which on our wickets at home helps a lot more than maybe what it does here in the subcontinent,” Guptill added.
While admitting that change is imminent for the Kiwis’ Test side, Guptill preferred to reserve his verdict on whether the younger generation of players is able to fill in the void left by the likes of Kane Williamson.
“I can’t comment on that at the moment. I mean, you don’t know until these new guys come through and start playing whether they’re up to it or not,” he said.
“Once Kane and the likes have finished playing and when these new guys come in, it’s going to take time for them I guess,” he said.
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