India are unbackable favourites for their 500th Test match against New Zealand, who commence what is likely to be a very tough tour at Green Park in Kanpur. Join The Roar for live scores of Day 1 from 2pm (AEST).
India’s last Test series came away from home when they thumped the West Indies 2-0 in a four-match series, with rain spoiling their chances in the other two fixtures.
Back at home where they are always strong, they look ready to pounce with a settled side, but have been rocked in the last couple of days by the news that quick Ishant Sharma will have to sit out with illness.
Besides that, Virat Kohli’s men look ready to fire. Kohli will once again be the key to their batting performance, although the rest of their top order, led by Shikar Dhawan, must find a way to see off the new ball which is likely to be used effectively by Trent Boult and Tim Southee.
New Zealand come into this tour of India having gone down in convincing fashion to South Africa during what was a strangely timed two-match series.
The first match was lost to rain, but the Kiwis were beaten by 204 runs in the second and to turn that sort of form around on the sub-continent will be easier said than done.
They have had one tour match against Mumbai, which was promising in the fact that all their batsmen made starts, but at the same time no one went on with it, and against a quality attack led by the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravichandran Ashwin, you can’t rely on getting a good score through starts.
Kane Williamson will be the key for New Zealand. Batting at four he must be prepared to knuckle down and pull his side out of a hole if the likely early wickets fall, and at the same time score runs to try and get the spinners out of the attack.
Interestingly, there are plenty of drawn Test matches between the countries, with India leading the ledger of those with a result 18-10.
Prediction
It’ll extremely tough for New Zealand to go past India at home. The home side will be out to get their long season off to a good start, and should do so fairly comfortably as long as they get early wickets and put New Zealand under pressure from the outset.
A draw is also a possibility, but given the pitch is already breaking up, spin will take over in the last few days as it nearly always does in the sub-continent.
India to win easily.
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