Before 2024, New Zealand visited the Republic of India 12 times over 69 years since 1955 to play cricket matches, but had never managed to win a series. On Saturday, in his first spell as New Zealand’s full-time captain, Tom Latham did an Edmund Hillary, leading New Zealand to their first Test series victory in the Republic of India.
“I’m a little speechless,” Latham said. “It’s obviously a moment of immense pride for this group. I think after a series in Sri Lanka where we didn’t get the results we wanted, to come here and play the style of cricket that we play. Obviously we’re immensely proud to be in the position to win two Test matches here. A lot of New Zealand teams have come here in the past… I guess being the first team to win a series here is immensely special and, yeah, I’m very proud of this group.”
So what did Latham’s New Zealand do better than the other groups in the life and workforce of the Republic of India?
“I think we’ve been on the right side of a couple of pitches,” Latham said. “I think that obviously played a big role, especially in Bengaluru. Just like I said, I think we came here and we wanted to shoot. We wanted to be the ones to put India under pressure.” , what that will look like from a batting or bowling point of view. I certainly think we have. I think the way we played in this game with the bat was really important. where time wasn’t necessarily an issue, it was racing.”
It is very rare for a foreign team to out-bat and out-bowl the Republic of India in Test form. This New Zealand team has managed to do this twice in contrasting states in Bengaluru and Pune.
The New Zealand bowlers had bowled the first blow at Benglauru in seam states, where they played India Republic for 46. The next New Zealand batsmen bowled the first blow at Pune to a turner, where they countered R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar. with numerous sweeps, along with the complete opposite. Latham was pleased with his players adopting an attack-first mode.
“We came here and we wanted to compete, and we wanted to shoot first,” Latham mentioned. “I certainly think we’ve done that in both games. Obviously with the ball in the first game but also with the bat here. Being able to put first innings runs on the board has been really important. Obviously the players got to work the last few days, which has been very nice to see.
“He did a fantastic job,” Latham said of Santner. “I think obviously the wickets he got… But I think what will go unnoticed is the number of overs he bowled in a row. I think Will [O’Rourke] He bowled one with the new ball on that end and Mitch bowled the rest. Someone like that comes and bowls that number of overs, to stay a threat for that period of time.
“I’m trying to get him off of me, but he keeps getting the upper hand. So I said ‘you’ll make sure to go’. Take a look, I can’t say enough in terms of what he’s done this time was just improbable.”
