Shreyas Iyer, Mitchell Santner
The 54-year-old, who oversaw a successful phase in New Zealand cricket, including their World Test Championship triumph, said the days of exploiting an opponent’s perceived weakness were fading. Referring to New Zealand’s 3-0 triumph in the 2024 Test series in India, he added: “The same way, when we came in 2024, we had quality spinners too. Because they don’t have good seamers, “Earlier, you played India and thought, ‘Oh, we’ll do a green track.
Now they have quality seamers as well,” Stead said. The whole idea of home advantage has disappeared a little bit around the world. Everyone has shown the competence to beat everyone else at any given time. So you’ve got to be on your game and be sharp.”
If the Indian players can nullify New Zealand’s bowlers, then I think it’ll be a cracking series,” he said. But if you want to be judged against the best, you’ve got to compete against the best as well,” he said. And I think that’s rubbing off on Test cricket now as well,” he said. I really think it’s something that could take off,” he said.
Stead, currently head coach of Andhra’s Ranji Trophy team, believes India’s ability to adapt to New Zealand’s bouncy surfaces will be crucial to their chances. The wickets will have bounce and carry. “It’s very important for New Zealand. India are obviously an amazing Test side, and then we go to Australia and play, so there are six huge Tests coming up for New Zealand. “I think the T20 format has allowed players a little bit more freedom in the way they play. “Personally, I think the ICC should consider playing more multi-format series. Rather than teams coming and going very quickly and people forgetting about the series, it could be a little like the women’s Ashes, where they have multi-format scenarios.