'Injury Does Not Seem to Affect Them': New Zealand Coach Gary Stead in Awe of India's Bench Strength

One of the major reasons behind the Indian team’s dominance across formats is the wealth of the talent at their disposal thanks to a robust domestic setup and shadow tours that groom youngsters and those on the fringes to make the next step needed to break into the national side. New Zealand head coach Gary Stead reckons that it makes the Indian side impervious to injuries unlike others.

New Zealand are set to take on India in a three-match Test series starting October 16 in Bengaluru. The hosts have been faring quite well despite the absence of one of their key fast bowlers in Mohammed Shami for nearly a year now who will also miss the New Zealand Tests.

“If they have an injury it does not seem to affect them like other teams. There is someone else who can come in who is equally adept,” Stead told reporters in Bengaluru.

“They have the mass of numbers they can call, but they are also very skilful and are an experienced team with a lot of Test caps. They play a brand of cricket that makes it very difficult for you over here, but that is the challenge that is ahead of us,” he added.

New Zealand’s India tour begins in Bengaluru before they fly to Pune for the second Test and then Mumbai for the third and final game. The tourists are in search of their first Test win in India since 1988 but know it’s a task easier said than done given how their hosts are currently on a record winning streak of 18 Test series at home.

New Zealand will be led by Tom Latham who recently took over as their full-time captain after Tim Southee stepped down. Southee’s own form is a cause of concern for the Kiwis and Stead revealed the seasoned fast bowler is going through his old footages from India tour to find what aspects of his game need improvement.

“From my conversations with Tim, he recognised he has not been at his best but there is certainly no desire to not get back there,” Stead said. “He is working hard in the background, he is doing everything he can and trying to rediscover what that little thing he feels is missing is.”

“There is a couple of little technical points Tim is working on. He is working with (Jacob) Oram around them. We have looked back at quite a bit of video from previous years and times he has played in India and had success. It is just (about) trying to rediscover that and find a little bit, I guess you could call it snap back into his action,” he added.