NZ vs IND 2020: Kiwis will be a handful for India on home turf, reckons Ross Taylor
New Zealand are fresh from a 3-0 Test demolition at the hands of Australia and have players recovering from flu and injury. However, senior batsman Ross Taylor believed that in their home conditions, New Zealand are a force to reckon with. He claimed that India will find it tough to play them because of their knowledge of the conditions.
"We were completely outplayed in all facets of the game throughout the whole series (against Australia) but now we're back on home soil and India will be a totally different opposition," Taylor was quoted as saying by the local media.
The last time India visited New Zealand in 2018, they won the ODI series 4-1 but lost the T20I series 1-2. They had also lost the Test series 1-0 the last time they played New Zealand back in 2014.
"They're the No. 1 team in the world, but we're obviously in conditions that we know, so let's get through the white-ball phase first before we get on to talking about that (Tests)," he added.
With the T20 World Cup later this year in focus, as many as five T20Is will be played between India and New Zealand starting January 24. The T20Is will be followed by three ODIs and two Tests. The grounds in Australia have big boundaries, something that is not seen in most of the cricketing nations including New Zealand. Thus Taylor also felt that adapting to the stroke-making according to ground dimensions will also hold key.
"It's the first time a T20 World Cup is there and you watch the Big Bash, there are big boundaries so you are going to have to skin the cat differently than how you play in New Zealand and other parts of the world," he concluded.