Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg has predicted that India will win the three-match Test series against New Zealand easily. India recently defeated Bangladesh by 2-0 in a two-match series whereas New Zealand suffered a 2-0 loss against Sri Lanka while playing away.
India are a force to reckon with in home conditions and have won their last 18 series while playing on the home soil. They had suffered a Test series loss against England back in 2012 while playing at home.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s last Test win in India had come almost 36 years ago, back in 1988 at Wankhede when they had registered a 136-run win.
Furthermore, former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is recovering from a groin strain and he is set to miss the opening Test.
Brad Hogg said on his YouTube Channel, “The way New Zealand played in Sri Lanka, I don’t think they’d be able to turn things around and really fix their deficiencies batting against spin. And that’s where India are going to take the Test series away easily.”
Analysing New Zealand’s squad, Hogg picked Ben Sears and William O’Rourke as the players to watch out for.
“William O’Rourke, he is a fast bowler, he just comes in ball after ball, not trying to bowl with sheer pace, has got a big heart, an he doesn’t give in. And Ben Sears, I hope he gets a go because he is a tall, quick bowler and I just think he can add a little bit of variety against India just with the extra height, hopefully getting a little bit of extra bounce there.”
Hogg showered praise on India’s consistency across all formats and said the team is starting to raise the bar at the top level.
“There was no way that Bangladesh were going to win this T20 series. India are coming out, they are playing aggressive brand of T20 cricket. They want to take the game on. They are starting to raise the bar ahead of other teams around the globe. Yes, they did win the T20 World Cup, but they have moved forward and they are looking at to try and change the brand of cricket under Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav moving forward, and it’s looking brilliant. Bangladesh, in T20 cricket, are no easy-beats, and India just blew them apart.”
The opening day of the first Test between India and New Zealand was washed out due to rain in Bengaluru.
