KANPUR: New Zealand coach Gary Stead has hinted that if the conditions demand, the visiting side may field three specialist spinners against India in the first Test, starting here on Thursday.
Stead also feels that their two-Test series against India won’t feature the kind of tracks that England got in Ahmedabad during their series against Virat Kohli’s men.
“You have to look and realise how teams come here often and don’t win. That’s the enormity of obvious challenge,” Stead said during a media conference outlining what playing Test matches in India mean.
“The traditional way of playing four seamers and one part-time spinner can’t be the way to go over here. You may see three spinners playing in this game and that will be decided once we have a look at the surface,” Stead said while making it clear that Mumbai-born left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel looks like a sure-shot starter.
Stead said while basic tenets of Test cricket is the same, the approach has to change depending on conditions.
“From our perspective, we have to change the way we play but also sticking to some of the key principles of Test cricket. We will try to be competitive for long long periods of time.” —PTI

Press Trust of India