IND VS NZ | India have a world class bowling attack, hails Kane Williamson

After getting whitewashed (5-0) by India in the T20I series, New Zealand staged a comeback in the ODI series by returning the favour as India ended up losing all the three matches. While New Zealand will bank on their recent momentum and try to prepare a green top for the visitors, at the same time would be aware of India’s pace attack of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami, the likely three in the XI  will pose a formidable threat. Blackcaps skipper Kane Williamson has said that his team will rely on its tried and tested patient approach to tackle the Indian pace battery in the Test series starting in Wellington on Friday.

"India have a world-class side and a world-class pace attack that have performed in all conditions, so a really exciting opportunity for our team," said Williamson as quoted by Cricinfo.

India have played seven Tests in Wellington over the years, but haven't won since their first game there, in 1968. The last two Tests, in 2009 and 2014, were drawn, but before that, there was a sequence of four defeats. That shouldn't have an impact in this game, but Williamson did say that New Zealand would try to exploit the conditions to their advantage and try to make life difficult for Virat Kohli's men.

"I think if you can execute your plans on a surface that's going to provide some assistance then it's a challenge for anybody, no doubt both teams will be looking to operate as well as they can in the areas that they get in the best chance. But we've seen here on these surfaces in New Zealand that there is some assistance early on but the pace and some of the bounce you can get can also provide opportunities for scoring. So there's a balance there and it's never a given even when the surface is green.

New Zealand comes into the Test series on the back of a 3-0 Test series loss away against Australia, and New Zealand's batting failures were a big reason for their defeats, by 296, 247 and 279 runs respectively. Their best innings total was 256 then and Williamson managed just 57 runs in four innings. The skipper has said that Kiwis will be going back to their style of patient cricket which has yielded results at home since 2017 and last but no the least playing smart cricket will be their foremost goal.

"So adapting to conditions, playing smart cricket is something we talk about in all formats but especially in the Test arena where the conditions can be dramatically different in all parts of the world."