New Zealand head coach Gary Stead on Sunday (October 13) admitted that the injuries to key players don’t affect Team India and the brand of cricket they play on home soil makes it “very difficult” for the visiting sides.

Stead’s comment came ahead of New Zealand’s three-match Test series against India, starting in Bangalore on Wednesday (October 16).

Addressing a press conference, Stead acknowledged the depth of talent in Indian cricket, citing that the national side remains unaffected by the unavailability of players.

“If they have an injury it does not seem to affect them like other teams. There is someone else who can come in who is equally adept,” Stead told reporters.

“They have the mass of numbers they can call, but they are also very skilful and are an experienced team with a lot of Test caps.”

“They play a brand of cricket that makes it very difficult for you over here, but that is the challenge that is ahead of us,” he added.

The coach revealed former captain Tim Southee, whose position in the playing XI is being debated in the Kiwis camp ahead of the series, is working with footage from previous India tours.

“From my conversations with Tim, he recognised he has not been at his best but there is certainly no desire to not get back there,” Stead said.

“He is working hard in the background, he is doing everything he can and trying to rediscover what that little thing he feels is missing is.”

“There is a couple of little technical points Tim is working on. He is working with (Jacob) Oram around them. We have looked back at quite a bit of video from previous years and times he has played in India and had success.”

“It is just (about) trying to rediscover that and find a little bit, I guess you could call it snap back into his action.”

Gary Stead said Southee, who relinquished New Zealand’s Test captaincy ahead of the India tour, took the decision in the “best interests” of the team.

He said, “Like all Test tours and series, we have reviews at the end of it and Tim and I had a conversation around it, then he made the decision to stand down.”

“He thought it was in the best interests of the team. I supported his decision around that.”

Stead said Southee’s decision to step down allows the Kiwi team management to explore other options.

“It allows different players to be considered in roles and as a selector and coach you are always trying to put what you think is the very best team out there,” he said.

“With Tim as captain, he was the guy who was starting for us and leading that team and think we were always looking at the options that were best for the team going forward.”

(With PTI Inputs)