Trial by spin: Tough challenge turns tougher for New Zealand in India

New Zealand’s struggles against spin is not just limited to the subcontinent.They started the 2023-25 cycle with a trip to Bangladesh, where 31 of the 36 New Zealand wickets fell to spinners, even as New Zealand fought back in Dhaka to level the series 1-1.Then they went back home to play a second-string South Africa side and mowed them down in the two Tests. While Will O’Rourke was the leading wicket-taker in the series with nine wickets, second and third on that list were South Africa’s left-arm spinner Neil Brand and offspinner Dane Piedt, both taking eight wickets apiece. Brand was making his debut in the series while Piedt was playing a Test after more than four years.New Zealand then played another two Tests at home, against Australia. They went down 2-0 with Nathan Lyon turning out to be Australia’s highest wicket-taker with 13 wickets in the series, which included a ten-wicket haul in the first game in Wellington.Of New Zealand’s current top order, Williamson has scored the most runs against spin in the ongoing WTC cycle for them: 410 at an average of 37.27. But 11 of his 14 dismissals have come against spin too. The same is the case with almost every other major batter. Ravindra has fallen to spin seven out of 12 times; Phillips nine out of 12; Mitchell eight out of 12; and Devon Conway eight out of ten. In the Sri Lanka series, several batters got stuck on the crease making them easy targets for Prabath Jayasuriya & Co.!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();

Barring Williamson (four) and Ravindra (one), no other New Zealand batter has scored a century in this WTC cycle. As things stand, Joe Root (six) has more centuries than the entire New Zealand batting unit in this period. And as New Zealand get ready in Bengaluru, they won’t even have the Williamson cushion.It’s not entirely doom and gloom for them, though. Latham has five fifties in ten Test innings in India, Ravindra had a fabulous ODI World Cup here last year, and the likes of Mitchell, Phillips and Conway all have decent exposure to the conditions through their stints at the IPL.India is arguably the toughest country to visit in Test cricket, and with R Ashwin breathing fire and Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav to back him up, New Zealand don’t need to be told that they have a mountain to climb.But Bengaluru is one place in India where New Zealand are likely to feel at home. There has been decent rain in the lead-up to the opening Test, and there is plenty of cloud cover expected throughout. That’s not to say there will be no turn on offer for the spinners, but New Zealand will have something to cling to, especially with the WTC final spot on the line.