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Advantage with New Zealand:
Former chief selector and India player, Vengasarkar said that India should have played 2 or 3 games before the World Test Championship final to get acclimatised to the conditions.
Team India is completing mandatory quarantine of 3 days in Southampton, after landing there a charter plane on June 03. The hard quarantine of the Indian cricket team will be ending on Monday. After meeting the isolation period of 3 days, players will be allowed to practice and have meeting the other team members. Team will have to follow strict protocols inside the bio-bubble prepared for the tour.
India will be playing against New Zealand at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton for the World Test Championship final which is scheduled to commence from June 18.
After that there will be a series of five Tests against the hosting nation.
New Zealand team is playing a two-Test series against England. First Test of on-going series is played at Lord’s Cricket Stadium and it is advantage with New Zealand.
On the other hand, Indian team which is going to face New Zealand has not got any opportunity to practice in a real match atmosphere. They will have to move out for the World Test Championship summit clash straightaway
Advantage with New Zealand is that host of cricketers, England has given World Test Championship rivals of Indian team an edge over them. New Zealand would be in the know of English conditions and prepared themselves in better way as compared to Indian team.
Dilip Vengsarkar reckoned that the fact that the lack of practice might be hurting for team India and it is advantage with New Zealand
“Well, he (Kohli) has been around for a long time. He (Kohli) is one of the best batsmen in world cricket at the moment. Players like Virat or Rohit Sharma, they are world-class players, they take a lot of pride in their performance and pride in winning matches for India.
“It is a good thing and both are in very good form. But having said that, I think lack of match practice may hurt them in the first Test match,” Vengsarkar, said in a media interaction on Sunday, as reported by NDTV Sports.
“India is a better team and in great form. The advantage with New Zealand, it is a low profile team, the thing is that they are getting to play two Test matches before the Test match (World Test Championship final),” Vengsarkar added with throwing the light on advantage with New Zealand
“So it is important… it is a slight advantage to New Zealand… because they have already played two Test matches before they start (of the WTC final), they are acclimatised to the conditions.”
“What I feel is that India should have played games, you know matches, at least two-three games before the Test match, to get acclimatised to the conditions.”
“It is advisable to play matches and spend time in the middle, both for batsmen as well as for bowlers. A match practice is ultimate, you may have net practice, you know a match simulation, but playing a match in the middle and spending time in the middle always helps, when you play the big game,” said Vengsarkar.
Also read : https://teamcric.com/top-10-bowling-figures-in-history-of-ipl
