The last time India travelled to New Zealand for a full tour, Virat Kohli was still the all-format captain and ruling the batting seas in all three versions. Shubman Gill had yet to make his Test debut, masks were associated with privacy (primarily) than health reasons, and the COVID-19 pandemic was just about beginning to send shock waves across the world.

That was in early 2020 – India played five Twenty20 Internationals, three One-Day Internationals and two Tests between January 29 and March 2 – when, as then head coach Ravi Shastri cheekily (?) pointed out, the tour ended in a 5-5 scoreline. Cute as that pronouncement was, there is no denying the fact that having started the journey convincingly with a 5-0 romp in the T20Is (including back-to-back Super Over triumphs), India were brushed aside in the next five matches.

Chastening loss

The most chastening of the defeats came in the Test series; India went down by 10 wickets in the first Test in Wellington and by seven in Christchurch (coincidentally, this year too, the tour winds down with Tests at these two venues in the same sequence), topping 200 just once in four innings. It was a bitter reality check for a team flying high on its 2-1 conquest of Australia in Australia just 14 months previously, a crushing blow that was the start of Kohli’s spectacular fall from grace in the longer format.

More than six and a half years later, with vastly changed personnel, India will attempt to secure their first Test win on Kiwi soil since 2009, when Mahendra Singh Dhoni led the team to a much-awaited 1-0 series victory. Since that Test win at Hamilton’s Seddon Park in March that year, the Indians have been winless in six matches, losing the last four, and therefore have a mountain to climb in their bid to end a long drought and wend themselves back into World Test Championship contention.

New Zealand in New Zealand are a formidable proposition even for the most experienced of Test sides, and India aren’t exactly flash on that commodity following the retirements of Kohli, Rohit Sharma and R. Ashwin after and during the tour of Australia in 2024-25. There is promise aplenty and K.L. Rahul, the vice-captain, and Ravindra Jadeja stand as firm bridges between the glorious past and the potentially bright future, Gill has his work cut out.

India are meandering mid-table following a string of underwhelming performances in the five-day format and must win at least five of their remaining seven Tests to stand any chance of making a pitch for the WTC finals. Considering two of them are in New Zealand and five at home against Australia between January and March, it will be no exaggeration to state that India are facing a second league exit in as many cycles after having made the final on the two previous occasions, in which case one would expect the pressure on head coach Gautam Gambhir to mount, at least in theory.

After a roaring start to the Gill era in England when, with a side that had very little first-hand taste of Test cricket overseas, India came away with an honourable 2-2 draw, the road has been rocky and arduous. A 2-0 win against West Indies at home was cancelled out by a similar drubbing, also at home, at the hands of WTC winners South Africa last November. India did win in Sri Lanka in August, but a 1-0 scoreline from two matches hasn’t done their cause too many favours, which is why they now find themselves teetering on the brink of early elimination, hanging on to the edge of the precipice with fraying, chipped fingernails.

Sparking interest, debate

But the Test series is a long way away for the time being – just under four weeks to go for the first game at the Basin Reserve, to be more exact. Before that, there is the small matter of five T20Is (starting in Christchurch on Thursday), followed by five ODIs which will generate greater interest simply because of the two stalwarts whose progress and presence has sparked tremendous interest and debate.

Let’s focus first on the T20Is, and the latest chapter in a book that is becoming unmanageably thick with meaningless words and disjointed sentences. In the middle of a gruelling, demanding run that has seen them play in three different continents in the last five months, Shreyas Iyer’s boys face a gun side that came out second best in the T20 World Cup final between the teams in Ahmedabad in March. India have seen a shake-up of sorts that has resulted in them moving past title-winning captain Suryakumar Yadav.

Shreyas has been given the responsibility of steering the ship, possibly till the next World Cup to be jointly hosted by New Zealand and Australia in two years’ time. Apart from getting early insights into what to expect at the World Cup, to be held at the same time of the year, there is little to gain from these five matches that, coupled with the five ODIs and the two Tests, make it the longest tour in terms of international matches (12) undertaken by any side to New Zealand.

Having steadfastly proclaimed their desire to excise themselves from the distant past and target the future, India have thrown a curveball by bringing the seasoned Bhuvneshwar Kumar back into the fray after nearly four years. The 36-year-old has 90 T20I wickets in 88 appearances and his economy of 6.96 is little short of outstanding, though his return testifies to a lack of potency in the bowling group in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, whose workload is being carefully monitored so that he is available and raring to go for the big occasions.

Lack of bite and consistency

India’s support pace cast has been found badly wanting, their lack of bite and consistency thoroughly exposed during the white-ball series against West Indies earlier this month. Admittedly, they found little joy from the flat-as-pancake decks and dewy outfields that worked to their detriment, but even so, the cause for concern was so overwhelming that they had to go back to the past to ensure the immediate future isn’t shot. Perhaps, some of it has to do with the fact that Ajit Agarkar is no longer the chief selector. Equally, much of it is a quick-fix arrangement; at this point, it isn’t clear if Bhuvneshwar figures in the long-term plans or not, but there is no disputing the fact that his presence will lend the cutting edge so conspicuously absent when Bumrah isn’t around.

Bhuvneshwar’s first bowl in international cricket since November 2022 was delayed after the final T20I against West Indies in Bengaluru was washed out last Saturday, and he will be itching to hit the ground running in the same country where he played his last T20I. He should relish the conditions in New Zealand – an 8.00 p.m. local time start with summer yet to fully set in won’t hurt either – and if he and Arshdeep Singh can strike up a useful combine, it should take a lot of pressure off the other bowlers.

The T20Is should serve as the appetiser to the feast that encompasses two main courses, starting with the first of five ODIs in Auckland on November 4. In some ways, this is the start of the homestretch of preparations for the 50-over World Cup in southern Africa in less than a year’s time. Conditions in New Zealand will largely mirror those that can be expected in South Africa and this will be a good run out for Gill’s boys, who will again seek to draw inspiration from the gargantuan presence of Rohit and Kohli, inarguably two of the greatest white-ball batters of all time.

The debate over their futures laid to rest for the time being (at least) after a stellar run of scores that have exploded unfounded doubts about their commitment to the cause, Rohit and Kohli will use this opportunity to continue to entertain, enthral and enjoy whatever time they have at the highest level. It’s not often that teams play five ODIs in a bilateral series anymore but given that the World Cup is the ultimate goal, it isn’t the worst thing that those involved in these discussions have pencilled in five matches. Of course, India have withdrawn several players, including skipper Gill, for the last two ODIs, given their proximity to the Test series to follow. But that will in no way devalue the last two-fifths of the faceoff because of the context as well as the fact that Rohit and Kohli will still be around to guide the team and to encourage and educate stand-in skipper Shreyas as and when the need arises.

Own business to tend to

While much of the focus will be on India, even more so than on the home side, New Zealand have their own business to tend to. They are currently ranked No. 2 in the WTC standings, only behind their great trans-Tasman rivals Australia, and won’t be unaware that a good result against the Indians will keep them firmly in the fray as they seek to emulate their heroics of the inaugural cycle when they defeated India in the final in Southampton. The Kiwis are also in the throes of transition, with former captain Kane Williamson no longer available for selection, but even though they tend to fly under the radar, they are always a formidable, competitive and skilful unit that will seek to maximise home advantage.

New Zealand aren’t the kind to rub into their opponents’ faces the fact that they crushed India 3-0 in India in October-November 2024, but then again, they don’t need to. The wounds from that unexpected hammering are still festering, the scars still all too visible. Conditions in Wellington and Christchurch will be vastly different from Pune and Mumbai where left-arm spinners Mitchell Santner and Ajaz Patel made merry. In their backyard, where pace is the king and spin a sideshow at best, the Kiwis have the personnel and the craft to put India through the wringer in the red-ball variant.

This Test tour will be a big examination of the techniques and temperaments of young left-handed top-order batters Yashasvi Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal. If they can come through this baptism by fire with their reputations intact, if not enhanced, India can derive comfort from the truism that there is reason to look forward to the future with optimism. By the time the Test series starts on November 19, though, there would have been no shortage of drama, that’s for sure.

Spin-choke: Mulani’s four-for ensured India-A got a healthy lead.
| Photo Credit: CAP

Second nature: Kishan kept busy without trying to be aggressive.
| Photo Credit: R. RAGU

At the helm: Ruturaj will marshal West Zone’s resources.
| Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO: NIRMAL HARINDRAN