India-New Zealand series will be highly competitive: Former NZ coach Mike Hesson

Former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson has said that India’s tour of New Zealand could be a challenging one for them even after they beat Australia 2-1 in the recently concluded series back home. Virat Kohli’s team has reached in New Zealand ahead of the 5 T20I match series starting January 24, 2020.

 

The Former Kiwi boss, who coached them for 6 years from 2012 to 2018, in a conversation with leading Indian media firm, Times of India, has said that Indian batsmen have to change a lot of things and will face a tough challenge in the series against New Zealand. India will play 5 T20’s, 3 ODI’s and 2 Test matches.

Mike has said that the Kiwis are very hard to be beaten in their own backyard and the recent record is testimony to that. He lauded the Indian pace attack and said that the bowlers of India today are very different from what the team had in 2014 when India last visited New Zealand for a series. He predicts that both the teams will play a highly competitive series.

Hesson believes that Trent Boult vs Rohit Sharma is going to be an interesting battle on the pitch with the ball swinging more in New Zealand conditions. Adding further Hesson says that the Indian spin attack could trouble New Zealand’s middle order. Trent Boult, who is recovering from an injury, will join the hosts’ side in ODI’s and is not a part of the 5 T20I match series.

As India misses their regular all-rounder Hardik Pandya, Mike believes that it would be the best situation for India to test Shivam Dubey in the T20 format as the condition here matches to what it is going to be in Australia where the T20 World Cup is being organised.

Mike Hesson said that he is very keen to see how Virat Kohli will start the series in the swinging conditions and believes that it will hard to dislodge him once he starts getting the length of the ball. He also praised Kane Williamson and said that Kane will score runs in New Zealand against any bowling attack of the world and will definitely be a delight to watch in the upcoming series.