Mumbai, Oct 31: The Indian team doesn’t have any chinks in its armour despite having thoroughly lost the first two Tests of the three-match series to New Zealand, said visiting skipper Tom Latham here on Thursday.
New Zealand recorded a historic feat of beating India in a Test series in their own backyard with an eight-wicket win in Bengaluru in the opening match followed by a 113-run thrashing of the hosts in the second game at Pune.
Even though India’s all-round struggles in the ongoing series have compounded their issues, there were some soothing words from the opposition camp, which has not put a foot wrong on this trip.
“India are a quality side, things obviously haven’t gone the way they wanted over the last couple of weeks but it doesn’t make them a bad team overnight,” Latham told reporters before New Zealand’s training session here at the Wankhede Stadium.
“They’ve got superstars from (Nos) 1 to 15 in their squad and we expect them to be in their best tomorrow and again a new challenge for both teams, a new surface.”
“I’m sure a surface that they know well and a ground that they know well, so I certainly don’t think they have any chinks — they’re a quality team and it’s going to be another great battle,” Latham added.
With New Zealand holding a 2-0 lead, there is also a possibility of handing India a clean sweep but Latham was not too excited about that prospect.
“We’ve obviously done a lot of good stuff over the last couple of weeks but for us, every Test match you go (in with) the focus of trying to win key moments and not necessarily focusing on the result…
“Obviously that’s the byproduct of putting things together back-to-back, good sessions back-to-back so yeah, a different pitch, different conditions, it’s obviously a lot hotter out there than what we’ve faced in the last couple of weeks,” he said.
Latham, who took over New Zealand captaincy before this tour, said the Kiwis have done well to record two wins that have kept the winners of the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship in contention for another final.
New Zealand, who did not have bright chances of making a second appearance in the WTC final before this tour, now need to win each of their remaining four Tests to be in contention for the summit clash.
Apart from the third and final Test against India, New Zealand will also play a three-Test series against England at home.
But once again, Latham opted to downplay the significance of their achievement and said, “The beauty of this team is we’re a reasonably levelled team in terms of I guess when results don’t go so well but also when you know results do go well.
“We try to keep things as level as we can and there’s no bigger carrot in terms of what’s coming up, if you know, if we are successful throughout this game.
“We always focus on the process around what that looks like from from the start of the game and adapt throughout the game in terms of the game situation and what will be needed,” he said.
Latham said New Zealand’s focus was firmly on the job and not continue celebrating being the first team from the country in nearly 70 years to beat India in their backyard.
“The guys celebrated what was you know a fantastic last week and came here yesterday. We’re a bit shocked by the heat, it was pretty hot out there, but yeah, again, another challenge and you know we’ll certainly be looking forward to what’s presented to us this week,” he said.
When asked if overseas Test and series wins should carry greater emphasis on the points system for WTC, Latham said he was happy with the way things are.
“I haven’t necessarily thought about that as such. The introduction of the World Test Championship over the last five (to) six years has been fantastic and the context that it has put on Test cricket, rather than bilateral series, has been fantastic,” he said.
“We’ve probably seen a few more results in terms of games that have been played certainly over the last period of time, so the context that’s now given Test cricket is awesome.
“Being in the position with the first one (winning team) and being successful gives you a taste of what that success feels like and once you do it, you want to do it again,” he added. (PTI)
