New Zealand vs India 2020: RCB director of cricket operations Mike Hesson feels Virat Kohli will find it tough to score in New Zealand
Director of cricket operations of IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mike Hesson stated that Indian captain Virat Kohli will find it difficult to handle the conditions in New Zealand and scoring big runs won't be easy for him.
Talking to the Times of India, Hesson stated that the New Zealand seamers will test Kohli to his fullest with the new ball and will definitely make the challenge enticing for everyone.
"For me, the match-up I am interested to see is how Virat Kohli deals with New Zealand seamers in his first 10-20 balls. If he can get starts in NZ, then his hunger for runs will make him difficult to dislodge Kane Williamson.”
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Hesson also expressed his fascination towards an enthralling duel between Trent Boult and Rohit Sharma in the upcoming ODI series as Boult has been known to get under the skin of the Indian batsman.
“Trent Boult versus Rohit Sharma in ODIs will be a fascinating match up with a little bit of swing on offer. New Zealand are very hard to beat at home as you can see by their recent record. I, however, see India having a far more suitable seam bowling attack than they had back in 2014 which means this will be a very even and competitive series.”
According to Hesson, the home team will surely have the support of the crowd and the advantage of knowing the conditions better than the opposition. However, he also cautioned New Zealand of undermining the in-form Indian team even if they are down and out.
“They will have slight home advantage but we have played a lot here in the past seasons. Every series is a fresh start and New Zealand in New Zealand is obviously a bigger challenge than playing them back in India. So we definitely have to be at our best game.”
India will play five T20Is, three ODIs, and two Tests beginning tomorrow.