After notching up his career-best Test score of 89 in the ongoing Kanpur Test against India, New Zealand opener Will Young credited coach Gary Stead for teaching him the art of playing spin.
Young’s knock was studded with 15 boundaries and he put on a 151-run stand for the opening wicket with Tom Latham to lead the foundation of visitors’ big first innings total.
"It was three or four years ago now. He had just come back and I jumped on the back of a bunch of fellow cricketers to learn about the art of batting and playing spin in India," he said during a virtual press conference after the stumps on Day 3.
"At one point, Gary and I were training for nearly two weeks and one of the drills was the sweep without the front pad on," Young recalled about his stint with his then Canterbury Cricket Club coach. "It was about sweeping the balls otherwise you would get bruised... So it was one thing Gary taught me and yeah it's still a work in progress -- the sweep shot."
Young fell 11 short of a century as substitute wicketkeeper KS Bharat took a fine low catch off R Ashwin’s bowling.
"You can't just rest on your laurels. I'm grateful for another opportunity to represent New Zealand and contribute with the bat," he said. "Different days, different methods work. It is tricky to find that balance between defence, spending time in the middle and getting used to those conditions and also aggression, and how to take those calculated risks to keep the scoreboard ticking over."
India’s spin duo of Akshar Patel (5/62) and Ashwin (3/82) shared eight wickets between them on Day 3 as the hosts bounced back to bundle out the Kiwis for 296, taking a handy first-innings lead of 49 runs.
"Right from day one there were visible cracks on the wicket. The cracks are opening up a little bit further as well as three days' worth of bowlers' footmarks and a bit of rough for the spinners to aim at," he said. "A little bit of uneven bounce too. I think a lot of our batsmen today were beaten by low bounce."
Reflecting on his opening partnership with Tom Latham, Will Young said: "Tom's a lovely man, a very cool customer, very successful in these conditions. I had the pleasure of batting with him in club cricket. He was awesome. We discussed various options of where to score and how to score. It was just nice to tick off a milestone that really. Hopefully, we can replicate the same."
(With PTI inputs)
