Christchurch. New Zealand’s new Test captain Tom Latham said that he wants his team to play freely and fearlessly in the upcoming three-match series against India. New Zealand has faced defeat in the last four Test matches, but still they are in the race to reach the World Test Championship final. Latham took command after New Zealand’s outgoing captain Tim Southee resigned after the 0-2 defeat on the Sri Lanka tour last month. Their first challenge is the India tour, where they have won only two out of 36 matches. The New Zealand team led by Latham will play three Test matches in Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai from 16 October to 5 November. Speaking on the India tour, Latham said, “It will be a challenging tour and I hope we will play with more freedom and without fear. If we do this our chances of winning will be greater. We have seen that many foreign teams have done well in the last few years and put pressure on them. But for this you will have to be aggressive especially with the bat.
We will decide how we want to play there and the players will also have to show a good approach. Hopefully we can implement that approach there. New Zealand last won a Test match in India in 1988 and their previous tour to the country ended in a thrilling draw in Kanpur. They had to face defeat in Mumbai despite Ejaz Patel taking 10 wickets in an innings. Earlier, Latham had played this role in place of Kane Williamson from 2020 to 2022. Latham further said, “We did some good things in Sri Lanka, although the result did not go in our favour. Barring just one innings, our approach with the bat was very good. We want to continue the same thing and try to play good cricket that we can be proud of. Hopefully we can do that.