NEW DELHI: Despite India’s consecutive Test losses against New Zealand, visiting captain Tom Latham maintains that the Indian squad remains formidable without any significant weaknesses.
New Zealand achieved a remarkable milestone by securing their first Test series victory in India, winning the opening match in Bengaluru by eight wickets and following it up with a decisive 113-run victory in Pune.
While India faces comprehensive challenges across all departments in the current series, the New Zealand team, which has performed flawlessly throughout their tour, offered encouraging remarks about their opponents.
“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 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 leading 2-0, a clean sweep over India is possible, though Latham remained reserved 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 assumed New Zealand’s captaincy before this tour, expressed satisfaction with his team’s two wins, which have bolstered the inaugural World Test Champions’ hopes of reaching another final.
Prior to this tour, New Zealand’s chances of a second WTC final appearance were slim, but they now need to secure victories in all four remaining Tests to stay in the race. Besides the upcoming third Test against India, New Zealand will face England in a three-Test home series.
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 the start of the game and adapt throughout the game in terms of the game situation and what will be needed,” he said.
Latham stated that New Zealand’s focus remains on the task ahead, rather than celebrating being the first Kiwi team in nearly 70 years to defeat India on their home soil.
“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 whether overseas Test and series victories should hold more weight in the WTC points system, Latham expressed his contentment with the current setup.
“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.