Kane Williamson and Gary Stead
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson and head coach Gary Stead. Credits: Twitter

New Zealand head coach Gary Stead has revealed that they plan to field three spinners in the first Test against India if the conditions on offer suit the slow bowlers.

The two sides will meet in the first Test on November 25, Thursday, in Kanpur. Traditionally, sub-continent tracks have assisted the spin bowling department, and Stead said that they’re ready to adapt to the situation.

You have to look and realise how teams come here often and don’t win. That’s the enormity of the obvious challenge. The traditional way of playing four seamers and one part-time spinner can’t be the way to go over here.

Mitchell Santner
Mitchell Santner. Image-cricket.com.au

“You may see three spinners playing in this game, and that will be decided once we have a look at the surface,” Stead said in a media conference ahead of the first Test.

The conditions will be challenging for the Kiwi batsmen, but Stead asserted that they’re here to compete.

From our perspective, we have to change the way we play but also stick to some of the key principles of Test cricket. We will try to be competitive for long, long periods of time,” he added.

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Gary Stead reckons the pitches won’t be similar to the ones prepared for the England matches

Earlier this year, England visited India and got dismantled by the slower bowlers. Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel ran riot on the spin-friendly tracks in Ahmedabad, but Gary Stead believes that the pitches will be different due to the change in venue.

Shubman Gill, R Sridhar
India vs England. [Image-BCCI]
Look, there’s no doubt that those were challenging conditions, but the difference is that we have two Tests at different venues, and they [England] were playing multiple Tests at the same ground.

“We know there will be differences as in Kanpur, you will have black clay, and in Wankhede, you will have red clay. There are certain adaptations that we have to make,” Stead mentioned.

For the New Zealand side, Trent Boult has travelled back to his home after the completion of the T20I series. Kane Williamson will also be back to lead the side for the Tests.

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