Ind vs NZ 2024-25 – ‘Take it to them’ – How Latham wants New Zealand to face India

“For me, it’s about trying to keep doing what we’ve been doing, trying to keep my mind focused on things,” said Latham. “It’s an exciting challenge to go to India and if we can go there I hope [we can] play a little loose, don’t be afraid and try to take it to them. If we do that I hope we give ourselves a good chance.

“Think about in India, we have seen teams that have done well in the past and were aggressive towards them, especially with shots that seemed to hit a few shots, but they also put them under pressure which is very important. We’ll decide how we want to play when we get there, but the guys have plans about how they like to do things and hopefully we can fine-tune those.

“We have actually done some great things in Sri Lanka,” Latham said. “We fell on the wrong side of the scoreboard but there were some good things. The way we went batting, apart from that one innings I thought we played very well. So it’s about continuing that as much as we can and trying to play the style we’re proud of and if we do that hopefully it’ll give us a good chance.”

Latham has led the Test team nine times as Kane Williamson’s replacement between 2020 and 2022 but now has the chance to leave a permanent mark in the role.

“Of course I will rely on that experience,” he said. “Obviously a different situation is fully functional where you can put your own spin on things but I think what I want to do is encourage the boys to be themselves, to be leaders among themselves and hopefully if we can do that we can play the brand of cricket we want to play.”

“He will have a role similar to the one he always had whether he was captain or before, such a person with a lot of experience, a lot of experience in all situations and he has done it for many years and succeeded. . We’ll definitely be getting into his mind, his ideas, so we’re looking forward to it.”