NEW DELHI: Despite India’s back-to-back Test defeats against New Zealand, visiting captain Tom Latham maintains that the Indian squad remains strong with no 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 are facing a complete challenge in all departments in the current series, the New Zealand team, which has performed flawlessly throughout the tour, has given encouraging comments about their opponents.
“India are a quality team, certainly not as good as we’d hoped in the last few weeks, but they didn’t make a bad team last night,” Latham told reporters ahead of New Zealand’s training session in Wankhede Stadium.
“They have superstars from (Nos) 1 to 15 in the squad and we expect to be at our best tomorrow and again a new challenge for both teams, a new surface.”
“I’m sure they know the surface and the pitch they know, so I certainly don’t think they have any chinks – they’re a quality team and it’s going to be another big battle,” added Latham.
With New Zealand leading 2-0, a clean sweep in India is possible, although Latham remains guarded about the prospect.
“Obviously we’ve done a lot of good things over the last few weeks, but for us, every Test match you play (with) focus on trying to win the important moments and not necessarily focus on the result…
“Obviously, it’s a byproduct of putting everything together, a good session, so yes, a different field, different conditions, obviously hotter than what we’ve faced in the last couple of weeks,” he said.
Latham, who captained New Zealand ahead of this tour, expressed his satisfaction with both teams’ victories, which have boosted the inaugural World Test Champions’ hopes of reaching another final.
Before this tour, New Zealand’s chances of a second WTC finals appearance were slim, but they now need to secure victories in all four remaining Tests to stay in the race. Apart from the upcoming third Test against India, New Zealand will face England in a three-Test home series.
But once again, Latham chose to downplay the importance of the achievement and said, “The beauty of this team is that we are a pretty even team in terms of I think if the results are not good but also when you know the results. go well.
“We’re trying to keep the level as we can and there’s no bigger carrot for what’s to come, if you know, if we’re successful during this game.
“We always focus on the process of what we see from the beginning of the game and adapting throughout the game to the game situation and what is needed,” he said.
Latham said New Zealand’s focus remained on the task at hand, rather than celebrating becoming the first Kiwi team in almost 70 years to beat India on home soil.
“The guys celebrated what you know last week and came here yesterday. We were a bit surprised by the heat, it’s very hot there, but yeah, again, another challenge and you know we’re going to look for it. keep up what you’ve given us this week ,” he said.
When asked if test wins and overseas series should carry more weight in the WTC points system, Latham expressed his satisfaction with the current set-up.
“I haven’t always thought about it that way. Introduction from World Test Championship over the last five (to) six years has been fantastic and the context that has been put in Test cricketinstead of a bilateral series, it has been fantastic,” he said.
“We’ve probably seen a few more results in terms of games we’ve played in recent times, so the context in which Test cricket is now given is fantastic.
“Being in a position with the first (winning team) and being successful gives you a taste of what success is like and when you do it, you want to do it again,” he said.
