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Virat Kohli and Co are strongest team in world at home, but we are prepared: Kane Williamson

The New Zealand captain addresses the media ahead of the first ODI at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

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New Zealand captain Kane Williamson addresses the media at a press conference ahead of the first ODI against India at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday
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New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is hopeful of putting up a better show than the last time he led the side in India in 2016, when they lost 2-3 after being 2-all going into the fifth ODI in Visakhapatnam.

On the eve of the three-match ODI series starting at the Wankhede on Sunday, the 27-year-old batsman addressed the media on various topics and sounded positive of crossing over the line.

Excerpts

On the first ever India vs New Zealand ODI at the Wankhede:
Yeah, we have played a couple of World Cup games (2011) against other opposition. Various guys have played IPL here. It is a great stadium and nice way to get the series under way at the Wankhede.

On the team’s preparation for the series:
They were a couple of really good hit outs for us. After a bit of break from international cricket, it was nice to get back together and start acclimatising as best as we can with the climate here in terms of humidity. The guys got through some good work, a number of batters spent some time in the middle, bowlers got through some good overs as well. So, two really good hit outs for us coming into the next game tomorrow. But they count for a small amount, they are preparations, (which is) important, we will put our foot forward coming into the first game and play our best cricket.

 

On the unsettled middle-order:
Yes, we have got a relatively new middle-order. Some guys with injuries, some guys with some good opportunities that certainly they all deserve their position and it’s exciting. These guys were here on the ‘A’ tour and experienced these conditions for a while coming into the series, which is always good. There are a number of areas you look at coming into the series but that’s not sort of a specific one. It is just important that we all look to play to our plan as best we can and we know of doing that, then we will contribute to what a good total is, if we bat first or chase and adjust to the situations as well, so guys are looking forward to the series.

On India’s impressive record at home:
India’s record is very good (at home), they are a very hard team to beat. We know that, at home in particular, they’ll be the strongest team in the world. There are no illusions that we need to come out and play our best cricket. We saw in the last series here that we were 2-all going into the decider, which was a fairly good effort, although we knew that perhaps we hadn’t given our best performance and it was a shame in that last game (in Visakhapatnam). It will be nice to come out in this series and do a little bit better.

On the opening pair:
The opening batters for tomorrow are Guptill and Munro, two good ball strikers, exciting top order players and it will be nice to see them get under way tomorrow.

On the lessons from the last series in India:
People talk a lot about adjusting to the conditions in India, and that’s really important not just when you come to India but the specific grounds you play at, they are always a little bit different. We did that fairly well last time we were here and it would nice to do that better (this time). We still did not put out our best performance in that last series, which was a hard-fought series but we still were striving for that performance that we knew we could put out and hopefully we can show that in this series.

 


On his style of captaincy:
For me, captaincy is about the people around you rather than yourself. That is certainly how I look at it, how to get the guys ticking as best as they can be, how can we try and play our best cricket, look at our performances, and then the captaincy and my opinion are shaped around that rather than perhaps being soft or any other nice words. That is how I do look at it. Everyone has got a different style, and within our team is a number of leaders that contribute to our leadership and are certainly considered in terms of how we want to approach our cricket. Of late, we have been putting some good performances on the board and we know coming here, it is a very tough challenge and we have to be aware of this.

On how different is captaincy on slow and turning wickets:
Yeah, it is different. We have mentioned the word aggression in captaincy before but sometimes, in our conditions where the ball moves off the seam with our seamers aggression is often seen as having slips and various catchers. Over here, at times, it may not be suited and it may be a bit more spin-friendly. Sometimes, the surfaces can be slower, and to blast teams out can be unrealistic. You have to skin it in another way. It is important to adapt and sometimes play the long game even in one-day cricket because if you can build pressure on some of those surfaces, that can help you take wickets, because we know that in one-day cricket or any format, taking wickets is really important.

 

On the relevance of the ODI series and the ODI League in 2019:
It is exciting to see where the game is looking to go. Certainly, the one-day and Test formats try to apply more meaning which is important for the viewer and the supporters, so it is an understanding what games mean when we play each other and what it is all for in terms of points system. I think it is a positive thing.

On the pitch for tomorrow: 
Looks like a fairly good surface. Certainly, I will have another look at it tomorrow. Generally, wickets here at Wankhede are good surfaces and will expect something similar.

On the batting order:
Tom Latham will bat in the middle order, he had some good time in the middle in the last couple of warm-up games and will obviously keep (wickets). Munro and Guptill at the top are both exciting stroke makers and look to play their natural game which is I think is important.

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