NEW DELHI: New Zealand will begin their World Test Championship
title defence in the Two-match series against India, with the first Test scheduled to be held in Kanpur from Thursday. The second match will be played in Mumbai from December 3.
New Zealand claimed the inaugural WTC
trophy in June after defeating India in the final. However in Tests played on Indian soil the story is very different. In 34 Tests in India, NZ emerged victorious only on two occasions, while 16 have ended in a draw. In the last two series - in 2016 and 2012 - they lost all the matches.
TimesofIndia.com here picks the top Kiwi players to watch out for in the upcoming Test series:
After being rested for the T20I series against India, Kane Williamson will return to lead World Test champions New Zealand in the Test series. Williamson, who has established himself as one of the most successful captains across formats, will certainly look to inflict a first ever series defeat on India in their own backyard . The second-ranked Test batsman in the ICC rankings, Williamson has been New Zealand's batting mainstay since he made his debut in 2010 against India in Ahmedabad. The right-handed Williamson has a great record in the longest format, amassing 7230 runs in 85 matches at an impressive average of 53.95. In fact he is the only NZ batsman to have a fifty plus average in Test cricket (at least 1000 runs or more). He has 24 hundreds and 33 fifties to his name so far in Test cricket. Kane Williamson (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images) He also became the first Kiwi batsman to get to 20 Test centuries in 2019 with an unbeaten double ton against Bangladesh at home. However, he hasn't really been at his best against India, scoring 829 runs in 12 games at an average of 39.47. It's not just his batting prowess that won him praise from all quarters, his calm demeanour on the field also makes him one of the most respected cricketers in the world. Veteran Kiwi batsman Ross Taylor will return to international action for the first time since the WTC final five months ago. The 37-year-old Taylor is New Zealand's highest run-getter in Test cricket with 7564 runs under his belt from 108 matches. He has so far scored 19 centuries and 35 half-centuries in the longest format of the game. The right-handed Taylor also played a crucial role in New Zealand's WTC title by scoring 47 not out in the final against India. But overall he has not made any big impact as such against India in Test cricket, managing to score 870 runs so far in 15 matches. Taylor, who can take on any bowling line up in the world, believes playing India in India is one of the toughest challenges for any side. I think there is no harder assignment than playing India at home or Australia away. They are probably the two toughest challenges in Test cricket at the moment. But as a group we are looking forward to that and we know we are the underdogs, but we will be looking forward to putting in a good performance," Taylor said.
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