New Zealand captain Tom Latham put his weight behind a struggling Indian team despite whitewashing them in a three-match Test series. Latham said Rohit Sharma’s team does not become a bad team overnight and expected them to bounce back with a much-better performance in the all-important Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia that starts on November 22.
Latham became the first visiting captain to whitewash India in a Test series (involving minimum three matches) at home. It was India’s first series defeat at home in 12 years and New Zealand’s first Test series win in India in more than 70 years. To give more context to the magnitude of Latham’s side’s achievements one needs to know that before this series, New Zealand had beaten India only in two Tests in 70 years. They were nowhere close to winning a series ever.
“Indian cricket in general is really special. We’ve played against them a lot. The guys play with them at the IPL. They were certainly gracious in defeat and they’re still a quality side,” Latham said after arriving in Wellington from India.
“They certainly don’t become a bad team overnight and I’m sure they’ll turn things around in time,” he added.
The Indian side was heavily criticized for their poor batting show throughout the Test series. Barring the second innings of the Pune Test, where Sarfaraz Khan (150) and Rishabh Pant (99) stitched a record partnership, the Indian team could not even cross the 300-run mark even once in the other five innings.
New Zealand looking forward to Bazball challenge
Latham said the series victory became much sweeter because New Zealand suffered 0-2 defeat against Sri Lanka before landing in India.
“When we were in Sri Lanka a few weeks, where things didn’t necessarily go our way, so, I think it makes these times extra special when you’re able to achieve something that hasn’t been achieved before.
“It is just about enjoying everyone’s company, celebrating together. We had a couple of extra days to recover over there, so that was great,” he said.
New Zealand will now face England in a three-match series at home, and Latham said fronting up to the ‘Bazball’ brand of cricket will offer his team a vastly different challenge.
“I think it’s an exciting one. I guess you look at the Test matches in the past against England, whether it be home or away, they’ve always tended to be reasonably exciting. So, I’m sure this series will be no different.
“They’ve got an attacking brand that they like to play and I’m sure it will be no different in terms of how they like to approach it. So, yeah, we’re looking forward to it. Yeah, it’ll be a great challenge,” said Latham.
