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New Zealand coach to take call on number of spinners after looking at surface
- The number of spinners to be included in the team will be decided after looking at the surface, the NZ coach said
- New Zealand's Ajaz Patel is a sure-shot starter, said the coach
- The first India vs New Zealand Test starts Thursday
New Zealand coach Gary Stead and his team are all set for the Test series against India that is beginning in Kanpur on Thursday. Ahead of the series, he hinted that if conditions demand, they may go in with three specialist spinners.
“You have to look and realise how teams come here often and don’t win. That’s the enormity of obvious challenge,” Stead said during a media conference outlining what playing Test matches in India mean.
“The traditional way of playing four seamers and one part-time spinner can’t be the way to go over here. You may see three spinners playing in this game and that will be decided once we have a look at the surface,” Stead said while making it clear that Mumbai-born left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel looks like a sure-shot starter.
Stead said while the basic tenets of Test cricket are the same, the approach has to change depending on conditions.
“From our perspective, we have to change the way we play but also sticking to some of the key principles of Test cricket. We will try to be competitive for long long periods of time.”
Asked if he would speak to the groundsmen considering what happened during the last home Tests that India played against England, the coach cheekily replied: “I don’t think I really get to have a say in that.”
“Look, there’s no doubt those were challenging conditions but difference is that we have two Tests at two different venues and they (England) were playing multiple Tests at the same ground (two in Chennai and two in Ahmedabad).”
“We know there will be differences as in Kanpur you will have black clay and in Wankhede, you will have red clay. These are certain adaptations that we have to make,” the coach explained.
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