New Zealand team management knows what lies ahead for the side during the next six weeks in India and it was no wonder that the spin troika of leg-spinner Ish Sodhi, off-spinner Mark Craig and left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner bowled a lot during their two hour net session at the Kotla here on Wednesday.
With New Zealand captain Kane Williamson admitting that it will be a tough challenge to play Indian spinners on pitches that is unlikely to be proverbial belters, the Kiwi batsmen spent a lot of time in batting against their own spinners as well as the net bowlers.
In fact, among the net bowlers, there were more spinners in action at the two dedicated nets for the slow bowlers. Santner, however, started bowling from the second hour of the nets as Sodhi and Craig were bowling in the spinners’ nets. Craig bowling at nets with brand new ‘SG Test’ ball was an indication that he is in the scheme of things as far as opening the bowling is concerned if the pitches in question start offering turn.
Sodhi was like a workhorse and bowled for the maximum time among the three spinners. When Santer came into action in the second hour, he was handed over an old ball which looked pretty scuffed up as he did his routines.The focus on spinners was evident when skipper Williamson after completion of his batting, started bowling off-breaks.
The New Zealand skipper has 29 wickets from his 52 Test appearances and it will not be surprising if one finds him bowling his tweakers on rank turners. Pacers Tim Southee and Trent Boult also hit the straps pretty soon while left-arm fast bowler Neil Wagner was seen bowling with an old ball. The accent was certainly on the reverse swing considering the pitch at Green Park will be an abrasive nature.
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