India are harmful on all fronts, New Zealand vice-captain Tom Latham mentioned of his challengers for the World Test Championship crown on Sunday, describing the Virat-Kohli unit as a “completely different side” from defeated England. did.
In the absence of injured Kane Williamson, Latham led the group to a memorable 1–0 Test sequence win in a two-match rubber in opposition to hosts England, their first within the UK since 1999.
Asked the place he sees the largest risk coming from India, Latham mentioned, “Around the board.”
“They have an incredible set of bowlers, a variety of high quality batsmen who’ve scored runs in several circumstances everywhere in the world. They got here right here just a few years again and performed very well, so we all know we’ve got to play properly to beat them.
While the group celebrated a convincing sequence win, Latham mentioned the main target can be on India in two days’ time.
“The preparation has been great but it is important that we stay focused and adopt a completely different team,” he mentioned on the post-match press convention.
Latham mentioned India’s efficiency on their tour of England in 2018 – in a 4-1 sequence loss – confirmed they’d be troublesome to beat on the Ageas Bowl.
The inaugural WTC Finals are scheduled to happen in Southampton from 18-23 June.
With the match ending in lower than 4 days, the Kiwis will get an additional day to relaxation and put together for India’s problem.
“It’s great to have a leg up for a day, great challenge is coming, but hope to celebrate, haven’t won here since 1999, so celebrate tonight and look no further,” Latham mentioned.
“Great help from the Kiwis, the British and likewise from house. The ambiance was wonderful.”
New Zealand received the match by eight wickets and when requested what he would fee larger – a sequence win in England or a win within the WTC closing – Latham mentioned.
“Both look nice. From our perspective, it was about coming right here and specializing in these first two Tests in opposition to England and attempting to proceed what we have been doing through the years.
“Now that we’ve got eliminated them, it will be significant that our focus shifts to India in just a few days.
“It’s a great achievement on the part of the group. I think it’s important that we celebrate with each other. It hasn’t been done since ’99. It’s definitely an achievement worth celebrating. “
“For us to come here as a group, it was about trying to play our brand of cricket and I thought we did really well in four days and finally got our awards.”
New Zealand’s first Test sequence win in England in 22 years propelled them to the highest of the ICC rankings forward of India. This was England’s first house Test sequence defeat since 2014.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS