Vishwas Puri
Star New Zealand batter Kane Williamson is likely to miss out on the first test match against India. Williamson has still not recovered from a groin injury that he incurred in the second test match against Sri Lanka In Galle. Following that injury, Kane was advised to complete his full rehabilitation at home so that the injury wouldn’t be sustained again in the upcoming months. Kane Williamson’s arrival will also be delayed as he is currently at his home for the rehabilitation process. But the New Zealand team is hoping that Kane will complete his rehabilitation soon and will be available for the remaining matches of the series.
Following his injury, Mark Chapman has been included in the squad, who has not played any international test match yet. This will be a good opportunity for Mark Chapman to make his test debut and secure his spot in the consistent 11 of the team by performing well.
The last time they played a test series was in 2021 in India, where India won the two match test series by a margin of 1-0. After an embarrassing clean-sweep defeat in the two match test series against Sri Lanka, the former captain Tim, Southee resigned from his designation. Tom Lat Latham has been appointed as the new skipper of the team and will lead the New Zealand team in the forthcoming test series.
Earlier, Tom Latham has captained the New Zealand team in nine test matches as a standby captain in which he has been able to win 4 out of them.
Whereas the condition of the Indian team is totally opposite as compared to that of New Zealand. The Indian team recently white-washed Bangladesh in a test series at home. All the players of the Indian team are in a decent form. The Indian team is hoping to clean sweep the series in order to easily make their way to the WTC finals.