The biggest challenge for the New Zealand batters on their upcoming Test tour of India will be picking the turning ball and more so the odd one that skids through, reckons former Black Caps opener Martin Guptill. The finalists of the inaugural World Test Championship in 2019-21 cycle, India and New Zealand, will face off in three Tests to be played at Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai from October 16. “You feel like you can never score sometimes, that’s the hardest thing about coming here to India. The ball’s turning square, then the same sort of ball comes through and it skids on straight.

“You never know which one’s going to turn and which one’s going to go straight, so you have to always be thinking, you have to always be mentally on song and on (the top of) your game,” Guptill told PTI in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of Legends League Cricket.

Guptill highlighted importance of pressing on the advantage against India who have won their last 17 series at home.

“To try and get on top of India is extremely difficult. But when you feel like you are, you have to try and take that as long as possible in the game,” he said.

“It’s a tough place to play. It’s hot, sweaty and you feel like everything’s against you. But as I said, if you can get try and get on top of them and you feel like you are getting on top of them, you’ve got to try and go as deep as possible in the game,” added the former opener.

Given their current form, Guptill said it is tough to pick between Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah as the biggest threat for the Kiwis.

“Both of them. I mean, you can’t take away (the fact) that (Ravindra) Jadeja scored 86, 89 or something, wasn’t it? “(They had a) 199 run partnership, you think you’ve got India against the ropes and then you’ve got these two come out and bat.” Jadeja and Ashwin came to India’s rescue in the opening Test against Bangladesh in Chennai where the hosts were reduced to 144 for six on the first day, as their 199-run stand for the seventh wicket took the contest away from the Tigers.

“While Jadeja is probably the better batter, I mean, Ashwin goes about his work in a completely different way and is very effective in the way he scores his runs,” he said.

“So you never feel like you’re on top of India because they’ve got such depth, and then, obviously, you’ve got them as a partnership of the ball as well,” he said.

Guptill said young Kiwi pacer Will O Rourke’s extra pace, with which he troubled the Sri Lanka batters taking eight wickets in the Galle Test, is something that was missing from the current seam attack.

“I first faced him maybe three years ago and I was really, really impressed in how he bowled. For him to have developed further in the last couple of years and get his chance in Test cricket, man, he’s had a really good start,” he said.

“He’s got a little bit of extra pace behind him, which some of our bowlers don’t have and he’s got a bit of height, which gives him that little bit of extra bounce, which on our wickets at home helps a lot more than maybe what it does here in the subcontinent,” Guptill added.

While admitting that change is imminent for the Kiwis’ Test side, Guptill preferred to reserve his verdict on whether the younger generation of players is able to fill in the void left by the likes of Kane Williamson.

“I can’t comment on that at the moment. I mean, you don’t know until these new guys come through and start playing whether they’re up to it or not,” he said.

“Once Kane and the likes have finished playing and when these new guys come in, it’s going to take time for them I guess,” he said.

The rising trend of Kiwi cricketers forgoing national contracts to potentially ply their trade in T20 leagues has adversely impacted player availability for New Zealand, skipper Tim Southee admitted on Sunday. The likes former captain Kane Williamson, Devon Conway and Finn Allen this year joined a long list of players who have opted for a casual contract instead of New Zealand Cricket’s central contract in order to pursue opportunities within franchise cricket. “NZC is working with the players and they are trying to come up with a solution that’s best suited for the players and New Zealand cricket as a whole,” Southee said on the eve of New Zealand’s one-off Test against Afghanistan.

“It is obviously a small cricketing country in terms of numbers. It will be great to have as many people as possible available for New Zealand, but the way the world is going, it is getting harder and harder,” he added.

A challenging couple of months await the Black Caps as they play six Tests, including three against India, on the bounce in the subcontinent, where the conditions are vastly different to those back home.

“Conditions are foreign to what we are used to but we are excited about the chance of playing six Test matches on the bounce here in the subcontinent.

“It’s exciting to play cricket in India, of course the weather has been the biggest challenge since we have been here and for the last few days,” added Southee.

With spinners set to dominate, pace bowling captain Southee could also miss a game or two.

“It is a tough….obviously six Test matches in this part of the world and we would like to think spin plays majority of the part as a bowling unit and we got four quality pace bowlers which we have at our disposal as well.

“So it’s about working out what balance is right. (We’ll) take each match as it comes and that we know it’s a busy little period for us where we may have to work through our workloads.” After the three Tests against India, New Zealand are schedule to host England for a Test series as they wrap up their World Test Championship duties for the cycle — if they dont qualify for the final. “It is a challenge for every side. For players playing multi formats you have to balance the chopping and changing nature of busy schedules, so we haven’t played Test cricket for a while, we are so excited and looking forward to getting there out playing Test cricket.

“For us as a side to play nine Test matches in a short space of time is exciting and something we don’t usually get.” New Zealand lost to Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup earlier this year and the Blacks Caps are not taking their opponents lightly despite their inexperience in the format.

“Afghanistan has been an improving side for a number of years and anytime you come up against them, you know you are in for a fight, especially in these conditions. We saw in the T20 World Cup how dangerous a side they can be.

“They have gotten a lot of confidence from the success that they had not only in the T20 World Cup but the one-day World Cup last year in India and they are still new to the Test format, but I am sure this is a format they will want to keep growing as well, like they have done in the other two formats.”

Player of Afghanistan cricket team.© X/@ACBofficials