Adapting the Indian conditions would be very important for us: Mike Hesson

The Kiwis are all set to visit India for a limited-overs series later this month, consisting of 3 ODIs and 3 T20s. It should be a big challenge for the Kane Williamson led side as the hosts have been in a dominant and incredible form of late. The Men in Blue are in the middle of a dream run in the limited-overs format, which includes a series win the Caribbean, Sri Lanka and recently the ODI series against Australia.

The New Zealand side had a tough time on the last tour of the sub-continent nation as they lost the Test series 3-0 and the ODI series 3-2. The visitors will need to be on their toes to beat this Indian side that almost looks invincible in these conditions. Ahead of the series, Kiwi coach Mike Hesson stated that the prime focus is on adapting to the conditions.

We’ve got to perform there

He said that the visitors would have to perform really well in order to compete with the hosts and immediate adaptation to the Indian conditions would play an important role. “You know going over there that you have to perform, otherwise you get taught a pretty harsh lesson. It’s important for us to adapt really quickly,” said Hesson as quoted by cricbuzz.

The Kiwis have already announced a nine-man squad for the India tour, constituting the likes of Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Trent Boult and the rest of the squad will be selected from the New Zealand A side which is currently playing India A in Vishakhapatnam.

“The beauty of an ‘A’ tour means we’ve already got people in India, adapting to conditions, so when they come in they should be as familiar as they’re going to be.We’re going to rely a lot on the experience of our senior players,” the Kiwi coach added.

Latham would probably take middle-order spot

He also talked about the various roles that players would take up considering the scoring rate would be a key. “It would be fair to say Martin and Tom, although they have had some really good performances individually, haven’t really clicked at the top and certainly haven’t generated a strike-rate as a pair that we’d like,” said Hesson.

He also spoke about the vacant wicketkeeper’s role after the retirement of Luke Ronchi and mentioned that Tom Latham is the most experienced guy to take up that role presently.

“Glenn’s certainly a wicket keeper, he has kept for New Zealand Under-19s, he has kept for Auckland in all formats, he played for us in the T20 against South Africa [in February] A very good batsman in his own right and also a developing keeper. Tom’s still the most experienced of those keepers, the other three are still developing. But we’ve got some good intel on the ground coming in, and we’ll make a decision on that in the next few days,” he concluded.