Former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson believes that India was probably the best-equipped team to have played a Test series in New Zealand in recent years despite Virat Kohli and his team being whitewashed on the Kiwi land earlier this March.
India was completely outplayed by the Kiwis in the two-match Test series, suffering a 10-wicket defeat in the first Test and lost the second Test by seven wickets to lose the series 0-2.
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However, Hesson admitted that New Zealand challenged the Indians brilliantly in the Test series, but feels the tourists “weren't ridiculous in any means” on challenging Kiwi conditions.
Hesson told the Mumbai Mirror: “I thought India is probably the best equipped to have traveled to New Zealand, but the conditions were challenging. They weren't ridiculous in any means, and they were challenging in both games (in the two Tests which India lost).”
He added, “The New Zealand conditions were challenging for everybody, especially in the first innings. Things certainly got easy later on. The first innings was challenging for anyone coming from overseas.”
In the Test series, India captain Kohli’s poor form with the bat was the most surprising and Hesson said the reason behind the world’s second-ranked Test batsman was lack of time in adjusting to the conditions in New Zealand while hailing the hosts’ exceptional against the star batsman.
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He further explained: “When the ball seams, there is very little time to adjust. You need time to adjust your technique. He certainly was not the only one (to have struggled). Also, New Zealand's plans for Virat were exceptional. New Zealand has had the best of attacks for a long time and they challenged the Indians.”
The IPL side Royal Challengers Bangalore coach is currently staying in Bengaluru as the IPL 2020 was suspended till April 15, while there are still no chances of this event to be staged given the three-week lockdown imposed by the Indian government due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Hesson signed off by saying, “No business model of a sport can survive without income coming in. It will be a huge challenge to every nation around the world on how they are going to deal with this period of uncertainty. The world is dealing with things far more important than sports at the moment. But once we get to the other side, it will be a challenge.”
(With IANS Inputs)
