“These are exciting times since we are going to be playing a lot of Test matches this season,” grinned Ajinkya Rahane as he addressed the media here in Kanpur. India had just finished a session of training and were gearing up for their second of the day. “We had a great tour of the West Indies and everyone played well. The team is looking in good spirits and we are training well. We are excited about this series,” continued Rahane.
But what Rahane stressed on was the need to start the series on a positive note. “It is important to start from scratch and this first Test match will be crucial. This game will set the tone for the rest of the series. Attitude matters in Test cricket. The first day and the first session will be very important. We are ready for it and looking forward to playing against New Zealand. We will look to win every Test match.”
Talking about the opposition, Rahane was of the view that they were a quality side and couldn’t be taken lightly and preparations for the same were going on in full swing. “We need to respect our opponents. They have good bowlers in their side and we can’t take them lightly. We will look at their videos and get a better idea. We will look at their release points and their action and see how they bowl at different situations. We are practicing in our sessions keeping such things in mind. We are creating angles that left-arm seamers can create and looking at how we can counter them. We will try to unsettle them and dominate.”
One can expect a turning track come Test match day. The pitch at the Green Park stadium in Kanpur is known to be low and slow, but Rahane didn’t believe in concentrating much on the pitch. “We know that the Kanpur wicket is slow and low as we saw in the ODI we played against South Africa last year. But it will be important to analyse the wicket in the beginning of the Test. Instead of focussing on the wicket, we would be looking to concentrate more on our strengths. Hopefully, it will turn and that is our strength. It is important to play to our strength. We will get to know about the wicket after the first two days of the match.”
