Heat on NZ to adapt in India

The adaptability of the Black Caps is going to be put to the test in India, according to leg-spinner Ish Sodhi.

New Zealand’s cricketers landed on the subcontinent yesterday ahead of their three-test series against India, which will be followed by five one-day internationals.

The series comes after New Zealand toured Zimbabwe, and more recently South Africa.

Sodhi said the conditions the Black Caps expected in India would be a challenge, given the differences between what they encountered in South Africa.

‘‘It’s two extremes,’’ Sodhi said. ‘‘We’ve come from the pace of South Africa and now we’re going to the spin bowling of India.

‘‘It’s how you want to challenge yourself as an international cricketer, and to be honest it can’t get any better than this.

‘‘It’s going to be a great test for some players that are really good adapters of the game, so hopefully we can keep on doing that here.’’

Sodhi said the pace of the wickets was the big thing they would have to watch out for.

‘‘We just came back from South Africa so the pace was obviously something we had to deal with over there. ver here it’s probably going to be a lot slower and maybe take a bit of turn.

‘‘[There is] a lot of adapting to be done, something we did for the T20 World Cup, so hopefully we can continue along those learnings and obviously Kane will lead from the front.’’

Although adapting to the conditions will be difficult, Sodhi mentioned that the players are used to heading to India..

He said the time difference would also make it easier to settle in.

‘‘It’s a lot different to what we’re used to,’’ Sodhi said of being in India, ‘‘but a lot of the boys have played here quite a bit as well, so it’s not something that we’re not too used to.

‘‘It’s pretty humid though. It’s only six in the morning and I’m starting to feel it already, so it’ll be interesting to see what it will be like later on.’’

New Zealand play a multi-day match against Mumbai in Delhi from Friday, before the first test against India begins on September 22 in Kanpur.