New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner is hoping Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma do not get conditions that suit them when India travel to New Zealand for a multi-format series later this year. Santner admitted that the two Indian batting greats have enjoyed certain New Zealand pitches in the past and will remain a major threat despite retiring from Test and T20I cricket.

India’s upcoming tour begins in October and will feature five T20Is, five ODIs and two Tests. While Kohli and Rohit are no longer available in the shortest format or Tests, both remain important figures in India’s ODI setup.

Kohli has enjoyed a stronger ODI record in New Zealand compared to Rohit. He has scored 596 runs in 13 innings at an average of 49.67, including one century and one fifty. Rohit, meanwhile, has accumulated 437 runs in 13 innings at an average of 36.42 and a strike rate of 72.95, without scoring a hundred.

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Mitchell Santner believes India’s senior stars can still make a major impact when the two teams meet in the ODI series.

“It is going to be a challenge. They are still very good players, as we have seen for a long time; masters of the ODI game. They have taken a liking to some New Zealand pitches in the past. Hopefully, not this time around. It is going to be a great series, no doubt,” Santner told PTI.

The New Zealand all-rounder also expects India’s new-look Test squad to face a different challenge in unfamiliar red-ball conditions. The two Test matches could offer more assistance to the bowlers than the surfaces Indian players are accustomed to at home.

“For a new-look India side, it is probably going to be the first time some players have been playing red-ball cricket in New Zealand, where the pitches will be a little bit foreign. They will probably do a bit more than they might do back home,” he said.

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The T20I series begins on October 22, followed by the ODIs from November 4 and the Tests from November 19. India have lost three of their last four ODI series against New Zealand, giving Shubman Gill and his team another opportunity to reverse that trend.