New Zealand's Ajaz Patel and Daryl Mitchell with their children during the presentation ceremony.
Credit: PTI photo
Pune: New Zealand will have to put the famous win in Bengaluru Test behind and adapt quickly to potentially spin-friendly conditions in the second Test starting here on Thursday, said all-rounder Daryl Mitchell.
New Zealand beat India for the first time in 36 years in the opponent's backyard to take a 1-0 lead but the hosts are expected to come hard at the Black Caps in Pune as the race to the World Test Championship final intensifies.
“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,” Mitchell told the media after New Zealand’s training session here on Tuesday.
“As Kiwis, that's what we pride ourselves on is (that) we get stuck into the moment, we stay where our feet are and we be 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,” he added.
Mitchell said the visitors would want to move on from the win at Bengaluru.
“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.
“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,” he said.
Mitchell said New Zealand were not fretting much even when Indian batters Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant were wheeling away with an aggressive scoring rate in the first Test.
“Rishabh, he's a world-class player and I seriously respect how he goes about playing his cricket and it was a great partnership.
“But for us, we know that at Bangalore, it's a fast-scoring ground. Where we were in the position of the game, we knew that we just need to keep trying to take wickets, keep trying to put pressure on them,” he added.
Mitchell said even though soil composition for the two Tests — black soil in Pune and red in Mumbai respectively — would come into play, he backed New Zealand to find a way.
“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.
“But 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 of time,” he added.
New Zealand women won their maiden T20 World Cup hours after the men emerged victorious in Bengaluru, capping off a memorable Sunday for the sport in the country.
“Obviously a pretty cool weekend or week for New Zealand sport, I guess. (It was) awesome to see the girls get up and win the T20 World Cup and all of us were cheering them on watching that on TV. Also for us to win a Test match here in India is always special,” added Mitchell.