Team India looking to lock in the WTC final spot
India continues their bumper red-ball season as they get ready to host New Zealand in a three-match Test series, after demolishing Bangladesh. The action kicks off in Bangalore and before the action starts on the field, here’s our match preview and prediction.
First Test | New Zealand tour of India 2024 | 09:30 IST, October 16
Sitting pretty on top of the WTC points table, India will be looking to consolidate their position up top and they have sixth-placed New Zealand in their way of yet another home series win. India come into the series off the back of a dominant series win of Bangladesh which had Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant shine with the bat while Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja went about their business with the ball with the latter two chipping in with crucial runs. The Indian unit looks like a well-oiled machine with all departments firing with only the third seamer a trouble for the hosts although on a spin-friendly Banglore pitch, it remains to be seen if Gautam Gambhir and his team plan to play a third seamer or an extra spinner with Ashwin and Jadeja. Kuldeep Yadav or Axar Patel are the options if India decide to go in with three spinners.
New Zealand on the other hand are coming off the back of a 0-2 loss to Sri Lanka and are desperate to turn their fortunes around if they want to make the WTC final. Ajaz Patel and William O’Rourke were two of New Zealand’s leading wicket-takers and both of them will be key in India as will the other spinners such as Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips. It was a batting failure in Sri Lanka for the Kiwis though as barring Rachin Ravindra’s fighting 92 in the first Test, no other batter looked comfortable and locked in. The visitors though have plenty of experience in their squad with the likes of Kane Williamson, Tom Latham, Darly Mitchell and Devon Conway and the Kiwis will need their experienced batters to step up in spin-friendly conditions.
The black-soil pitch in Bangalore means that the spinners will be in play and it will be a case of whichever batting lineup can handle the spinners best will be the ones coming out on top. Rain has been looming around and even washed out the training session for the hosts but Rohit Sharma’s boys showed against Bangladesh that even with lost time they can turn things around in their favour and will be the overwhelming favourites to kick off the series with a win.
Fantasy XI: Rohit Sharma, Tom Latham, Devon Conway, Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, KL Rahul, Rachin Ravindra, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Ajaz Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin
Venue: Bangalore
Winners Prediction: India
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