New Zealand's Daryl Mitchell during the presentation ceremony after his team won the first test cricket match against India, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
Pune: What sets good teams apart is not always about how they fail. It’s also about what they do in the face of victories.
By that, this New Zealand side must be a good team, not only because they managed to win over India for the first time in 36 years last week in Bengaluru, but because they’re not too hung up on the victory despite going 1-0 up in the three-match series.
“Look, for us, it's another Test match now. It is (all about) what has been, has been. It is in the past. I'm obviously very grateful to win that Test match,” said New Zealand all-rounder Daryl Mitchell on Tuesday.
“But at the same time, it's a different ground, different surface and we'll just be ready to go for that first ball and get stuck in as the way we do.”
Speaking of conditions, Pune’s black-soil surface is likely to assist more turn, and Mitchell was cognisant of that threat.
“One thing we can't do is we can't change the surface, so for us, it's reacting to what's coming at us and adapting on the fly,” he said. “As Kiwis, that's what we pride ourselves on is we get stuck into the moment, we stay where our feet are and we are as present as possible. We can't change the wicket. What will be, will be. But I'm sure we'll come up with a plan and find a way to take 20 wickets and hopefully score a few runs as well.”
Mitchell wasn’t even concerned about the composition of the soil, really. He just addressed as generically as he could with the only real acknowledgement of the awaiting challenge coming as an afterthought.
“Every country has its different challenges. Galle (in Sri Lanka) was a different spinning wicket again to what we'll receive here and the likes of here in Mumbai in the next Test as well. Different soils, different clays. It's understanding the threats that each pitch will give you and trying to find ways to negate that,” he said.
“But, you also try to find ways to put pressure back on the bowlers as well. That's the nature of playing spin over here. You've got to be confident in your plans and how you want to go about your business and try and repeat that for long periods.”