Gary Stead knows a thing or two about beating India. The 54-year-old Kiwi was the coach when New Zealand overcame the subcontinental giant to win the ICC World Test Championship in 2021.

He was also at the helm when Tom Latham & Co. handed India a 3-0 drubbing at home in 2024, the latter’s first Test series defeat in its own backyard since 2012.

As India begins an all-format tour of New Zealand from Thursday, Stead, who is now the head coach of Andhra, feels the tables could turn. The two Tests India and New Zealand will play would be crucial for both teams’ Test Championship hopes.

“[Earlier] when you played India, you’d have thought, ‘Oh, we’ll do a green track because they don’t have good seamers’. Now they have real quality seamers, the same way we had quality spinners when we came here [to India],” said Stead during Andhra’s Ranji Trophy opener against Karnataka last week.

“The whole idea of home advantage has disappeared a little bit around the world. I think everyone has shown competence to beat everyone else.”

Stead opined that the better batting unit will prevail.

“The battle will come down to the two batting teams. Generally, the wickets have bounce and carry. The two Tests are at Hagley Oval [in Christchurch] and Wellington, traditionally two of the bouncier wickets in New Zealand. If India can nullify New Zealand’s bowlers, I think it’ll be a cracking series.”

“India, obviously, is an amazing Test side, and we go to Australia after that. So there are six huge tests coming up. But if you want to be judged against the best, you’ve got to compete against the best.”

The last time India went on an all-format tour was to South Africa (Dec 2023 – Jan 2024). Stead hoped that such sojourns would happen more often.

“Personally, I think the ICC should consider playing more multi-format type situations, rather than [teams] coming and going very quickly, and people forgetting about the series. Something like how the women do with their Ashes… and that could be something that takes off a little bit more”.

After five rounds of the Ranji Trophy season, Andhra sits second in the Group A table with 22 points, three behind leader and domestic heavyweight Vidarbha.

Two thumping wins against Odisha and Jharkhand aside, a famous four-wicket triumph over Tamil Nadu remains one of the highlights of the campaign.

Andhra’s run has had contributions from wise, old heads and young, enthusiastic minds in equal measure. Twenty-one-year-old Shaik Rasheed (440 runs, two centuries, two fifties), 31-year-old Abhishek Reddy (447, 1, 2), and 32-year-old K.S. Bharat (311, 1, 2) have led the charge with the willow.

With the ball, 32-year-old Saurabh Kumar is at the forefront with 23 wickets. He has been ably supported by 24-year-old Tripurana Vijay (14) and 25-year-old Kavuri Saiteja (11).

A nagging persistence to grind its way out of a rut has been Andhra’s strength this time, something the side hails new coach Gary Stead for.

“The atmosphere he has created has been great. Even if things are not going well, he makes sure that we stay positive,” Andhra skipper Ricky Bhui told The Hindu.

Backing the players

Unlike the myopic selection and blind purple patch pursuits Andhra has often been guilty of before, a major change now is backing players even if their returns stutter here and there in a campaign.

“Usually, the team is picked, and then we have a 10-day camp. This time, we had about 30 members in a 20-day pre-season camp. Gary wanted to see all the boys. He wanted to know the style of cricket we play and stuff like that.”

“Even if the opposition has the upper hand, the coach has asked us to keep small goals, forget about the future, and focus on finding solutions in the present. That has also made our lives easier,” K.V. Sasikanth chimed in.

“I honestly feel that we’ll do something really special this year. The goal is to finish in the first position on the table. After that, we will take it a game at a time and see where we go,” Ricky added, with clashes against Vidarbha and Nagaland awaiting the side.