Ross Taylor roars ahead of India tour, asserts home condition as an edge over visitors

After a humiliating defeat at the hands of Australia in Tests, the Blackcaps now gear up to face India across formats beginnings with the T20s on January 24. The Kiwis will surely look to grab some wins hoping the change in format brings some change in their fortune.

Veteran batsman Ross Taylor on Wednesday acknowledged the team's loss against Australia and said that the team has shifted focus to white-ball cricket as the India tour begins with the shortest format of the game. 

'India will be a totally different opposition'

Taylor, who recently became the highest run-scorer for New Zealand in Tests, asserted that the Blackcaps are now back on home soil and that no one knows the conditions better than them.

"The Australia series didn't go as well as we would have liked, we were completely outplayed in all facets of the game throughout the whole series, but now we're back on home soil and India will be a totally different opposition," Taylor remarked. 

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He also acknowledged the fact that India might be the number one team in the world but home conditions might just give the Blackcaps an edge over the visitors.

Taylor said, "They [india] are the No. 1 team in the world, but we're obviously in conditions that we know, so let's get through the white-ball phase first before we get on to talking about that."

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India look to refurbish record against NZ

While New Zealand will look forward to capitalising on home conditions and make the most out of it, India on the other hand, have not had great success against the Blackcaps. In 11 T20 Internationals against New Zealand, India have only managed to win 3  of them.

However, a recent change in the team's approach keeps the hope of a better series alive as the visitors also look forward to building their core for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup in Australia later this year. 

India’s T20I squad

Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (VC), Sanju Samson, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Ravindra Jadeja, and Shardul Thakur.

New Zealand T20I squad

Kane Williamson (captain), Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Ross Taylor, Hamish Bennett, Tom Bruce (games 4-5), Colin de Grandhomme (games 1-3), Scott Kuggeleijn, Daryl Mitchell, Blair Tickner, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, and Tim Southee.

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Image Credits: AP