Southampton: With the World Test Championship final set to begin, there have been many questions from all around as to why didn’t New Zealand announced their playing XI. At a time when India have announced their XI, what will be New Zealand’s XI for the World Test Championship Final?
New Zealand head coach Gary Stead put a fullstop to all the speculations from all around saying they still haven’t decided the playing XI ahead of the final, and the final combination will be holding that all-important decision till the time of the toss.
“It’s amazing the number of Indian people that want to know [our team] as well. We’re just putting that on hold until tomorrow until we get down there,” Stead said on Thursday. Stead opined should the pitch be green, it will mean they need to play more pacers and hence the delay.
“The greener the pitch, the more chance you’ll play pace bowlers. The browner the pitch or dusty the pitch is when you’re more likely to play spin bowlers or slower bowlers. There was a small green tinge on the Southampton pitch it’s been interesting because we’ve been watching it over the last three days and it’s actually greened up over the last couple of days. They cut a bit of grass off it today but it’s still a light green colour,” he added.
The Test series win against England has boosted New Zealand’s confidence ahead of the World Test Championship final, but Stead is willing to rest for the intense battle against India and hoping to put their best foot forward.
“We brought people in in that last Test against England and they performed really well and sometimes that creates more of a headache but that’s a great place to be in. I’m really proud of the way that the team have played over the last few years though – it’s been true to our style of play and I’m just hoping we can get out there tomorrow and put our best foot forward,” he added.
