Big picture
India has been here before. Not all that happened in the past, but they beat the Test series 1-0 at home. It happened against Australia in 2017, then England in 2021 and 2024. All three times, they came back to win the series.
Both those series, however, were four Tests long. The current generation of India has never been in the position it is in now against New Zealand: 1-0 at home, with only two Tests to go.
It puts them under a lot of pressure. Beating India in India is still a tough challenge in Test cricket today, but teams away from home in the last two years have been winning Tests here more often than ever before. It is a sign, perhaps, of an era changing to another, a reminder of the cricketing deaths of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
This does not, however, change the fact that India remain favorites when the second Test begins on Thursday. New Zealand won in Bengaluru, yes, but they won with a perfect storm created by the weather and a treacherous pitch that led India to make what turned out to be a toss and a poor choice in those conditions. New Zealand were also ready to make the same call when Tom Latham got it right.
Pune will not be like Bengaluru. India has done everything possible to bring back in this series the one major ingredient that has been missing so far: home advantage. The details of how Pune’s pitch will behave will only become clear when the game starts, but the wide frame may be of little help to New Zealand’s quicks, and a huge space for India to develop their high skill and control of their spin attack. It won’t guarantee the result they are looking for, not against this excellent New Zealand team, but whether they win, lose or draw, India will go to the end with their goals in mind.
Form guide
India LWWWW (Last five exams, most recent)
New Zealand WLLLL
Highlights – Shubman Gill and Glenn Phillips
Team news – Sarfaraz vs Rahul, Southee vs O’Rourke?
India have two big decisions to make regarding their XI. With Gill set to return, they will have to leave out KL Rahul, who has a good return in small samples – a century and two fifties in six Tests – since moving to the middle order late last year, and Sarfaraz Khan, who has a rolling second-innings hundred -Bengaluru. There is also the question of the second seamer: can Akash Deep, who has looked natural in Indian conditions in his Test career so far, step in for Mohammed Siraj, whose 13 home Tests have brought him just 19 wickets at 36.15? A dry pitch is expected to provide enough help to the spinners, so India will probably stick to playing three of them. They have little reason to look beyond the trio of Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav, even if Washington Sundar and Axar Patel make a compelling case as spinners.
India: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Shubman Gill, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 KL Rahul/Sarfaraz Khan, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed Siraj/Akash Deep.
Despite being 1-0 up, New Zealand may have a tougher choice to make than India, as it may involve a change in their Bengaluru attack. Conditions in Pune will be much better for bowling and seam bowling, which means New Zealand may consider leaving out one of the three fast bowlers – either Tim Southee, their former captain, or Will O’Rourke, who has taken over. seven wickets in Bengaluru – and bring in an extra spinner. This could be left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner or leg-spinner Ish Sodhi, who has joined the team with Michael Bracewell released on paternity leave.
New Zealand 1 Tom Latham (capt), 2 Devon Conway, 3 Will Young, 4 Rachin Ravindra, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Tom Blundell (wk), 7 Glenn Phillips, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Tim Southee/Will O’Rourke, 10 Matt Henry , 11 Ajaz Patel.
Tone and context
After losing in un-Indian conditions at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, India did everything possible to prepare the track to minimize the damage that New Zealand’s pace could cause. A slower, lower curve is just around the corner, and bowlers can expect more help as the Test match continues with sunny weather expected across the five days in Pune.
Math and trivia
- After losing just two home Tests in the decade from 2013 to 2022, India lost three more in the next two years.
- KL Rahul has 19 runs to the 3000 mark in Test cricket. Of all the batsmen who have scored at least 3000 runs since debut, only Mominul Haque and Kraigg Brathwaite have lower averages than Rahul’s current figure of 33.87.
- Before 2023, Matt Henry had 53 wickets in 17 Tests at an average of 40.24. Since the start of 2023, he has turned his Test career around, taking 50 wickets in just nine Tests at 21.26.
Quotes
“No, we are not even thinking about giving anyone game time. Our focus is on these two Test matches [against New Zealand]. And these two test matches are very important for us. It’s as important as any other Test match, be it in India or Australia.”
India is the head coach Gautam Gambhir when asked if India will pick Akash Deep to give him game time before the Australia tour
“It is important that we focus on that, have confidence in that [Bengaluru] game, and bring it into this game, but remember that we both start from zero, both teams start from zero tomorrow.”
New Zealand captain Tom Latham
Karthik Krishnaswamy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
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