Bowlers’ fitness and their “feel” amid a gruelling schedule are among the reasons why New Zealand opted to announce a split squad for the five-match ODI series against India early next month.
The tour begins next week with the first of the five T20Is in Christchurch. For the ODIs, beginning in Auckland on November 4, the Black Caps have two separate squads with the Test regulars rested for the last two games, keeping in mind the two-match series that starts right after.
“Obviously, the Tests (from November 19 in Wellington) against India are very important for the World Test Championship. We then go pretty much straight to Australia almost immediately for the four Tests over there. So, this is obviously a massive series,” Mitchell Santner, who’s leading the side on the white-ball leg, said during a select virtual interaction facilitated by Sony Sports Network on Wednesday.
“We’ve got good squad depth at the moment in New Zealand, which is nice to put up a challenge against India. First things first, we want to beat India in New Zealand in front of our fans, but at the end of the day, at the back of your mind, you’ve got to think about the bowlers’ fitness and how they are feeling, and if they feel kind of underdone going into the Test series.
“We’ve never really done that before, but with the tight turnaround of games, there are 10 games in 20 (24, to be exact) days. We’ve never kind of done that before, so it (decision to rest Test regulars) gives those guys a few more days to recover after two big series and then be ready for the first Test,” the left-arm spinner all-rounder explained.
Daryl Mitchell, Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra and Santner are among New Zealand’s all-format cricketers, though the limited-overs captain is named for all the five ODIs.
Top-order game plan
Before the Tests, the hosts will have to deal with the T20 world champions’ explosive top order. The conditions will obviously be quite different to that in India, but Santner acknowledged the difficulty in combating India’s T20 top-three: Sanju Samson, Abhishek and Ishan Kishan.
To keep the trio at bay, yorkers, arm-ball and the stock delivery could come in handy, for Santner in particular.
“If I’m bowling to Abhishek or Ishan, I know that they’re going to come hard from the start, so it’s about how you combat that versus seeing what would happen if there is a little bit of spin.
“A bit early season, it (ball) can be a bit soft at times, and then you can be a little more aggressive with the ball. You may also try to get out of their hitting arc from ball one, bowl more yorkers, arm balls and even that stock spinning ball into the slot to someone like Abhishek or Ishan,” he said.
Movement off the pitch and bringing the bigger boundary size into play are also ways to thwart India’s top-order, the captain pointed out.
“It can do a little bit in Christchurch during this period of the year. The pitches and conditions will be different, while we know how to operate here in New Zealand, which gives us a little bit of an edge. But trying to combat the Powerplay, especially in T20 cricket, is a challenge.
“We’ve seen how good India are at the top of the order. So, for us, if the ball does do a little bit, it’s about trying to combat the explosive nature of India’s batters with some plans like some movement off the pitch.
“If it (pitch) is flat, you need to potentially bring into play the bigger boundary size.”