New Zealand Is The One Team That Is Very Close To The Indian Team - Ashish Nehra

Former bowler Ashish Nehra opined that the only Test team which comes close to being compared with Team India is the New Zealand side. In recent years, India has achieved a lot of overseas wins since the 2018 tour of South Africa, while others are failing to win at home.

Under Virat Kohli, the Indian team has won the ICC Test Mace 5 times in a row. The streak ended when they lost to the Kiwi squad a couple of months ago in the final of the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship (WTC) final. Speaking about the teams, Ashish Nehra felt the handling of pressure is what elevates Kohli’s men to another level.

“When you talk about the Indian team, whether you talk about the bowling or batting, there has been a lot of up and down in the last one to one-and-a-half years but whenever it has come to handle pressure away from home, the Indian team has done it a lot better than the English team.”

“England is also a good team, a lot of their players are injured as well but they lost to New Zealand also at home and drew the Ashes 2-2. So England is not going on winning at home. I will say New Zealand is the one team that is very close to the Indian team, whether it is the white ball or the red ball,” Nehra mentioned.

“I Am Not In 100% Agreement” – Ashish Nehra On Sourav Ganguly Stating India Is Far Ahead Of The Others

Currently, New Zealand is the World’s No.1 side in Tests, a spot they stole from India after beating them by 8 wickets in the WTC final. However, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly asserted that Kohli and co. are far ahead of the chasing pack. This view wasn’t coinciding with that of Ashish Nehra, who thinks New Zealand is neck-to-neck with India.

“You spoke about Sourav Ganguly’s tweet that they have absorbed pressure very well but the Indian team is way ahead of the rest. There, I am not in 100% agreement. If you go just by the numbers, the New Zealand team has defeated you when you talk about the WTC.“

“Just like it is his thinking, I believe that they are ahead but along with them, when you talk about Test cricket for the last one to one-and-a-half years, the Indian and New Zealand team are neck-to-neck,” Nehra added.

The debate could well be settled when New Zealand tours India for a 2-match Test series later in the year. For now, they remain the top two teams in Tests.

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