New Zealand’s head-coach Gary Stead faced a lot of backlashes after he went for a holiday after the 5-0 whitewash his team endured at the hands of the Indian team. A lot of Kiwi legends noted that he should have been with the players to boost their morales, instead, he went on a holiday.
Stead has finally broken his silence on the matter and noted that he was really surprised and shocked to see the reaction of people that was directed towards him after the T20 International series. He further added that the governing body always talks about the welfare of the people, so it left him really surprised.
“I was really surprised. I mean New Zealand Cricket and I have talked about this for a long time, looking after the staff and the players we have. So, we did that and I know New Zealand Cricket is doing what we think is right for our us as people, first and foremost, so we did it. I was very surprised,” Stead said in a statement.
Leading the attack on Stead, it was former New Zealand skipper Jeremy Coney pierced into the coach and noted that Stead should have been with the players because they need him more than ever. He also posed a lot of questions over his leave.
Stead also explained that everyone is entitled to their opinion and Coney has all the right to say what he wants to.
“I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion. I guess what Jeremy Coney says about me doesn’t necessarily have relevance to the way we go about things,” Stead said before the first Test match.
The coach concluded by saying that he got the much-needed rest before the Test series and he is all set to be with his team and make them win the upcoming series.
After the whitewash in the shortest format, the Black Caps thumped the Men in Blue in the ODI series and handed them a 3-0 series loss. The two teams will now battle it out in the longest format from February 21 in Wellington.
India Test squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Navdeep Saini, and Ishant Sharma.
New Zealand Test squad: Kane Williamson (capt), Tom Blundell, Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Ajaz Patel, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, and BJ Watling.
