On a surface that was different from the Bengaluru, where New Zealand won, they were bowled out for 259 on Day 1 in Pune. However, Luke Ronchi, New Zealand’s batting coach wishful for more as well.
“The position we’re in, I guess, when you look at the surface straight out, I think everyone thought it was going to be more of a turning surface. But then you always get in a position where you want more runs, no matter how the surface plays. If you make 600, you want 620. If you make 200, you want 220. So I think you always want more,” he said.
“And some of the guys, they got themselves in, were batting really well, and then unfortunately got out. So I think you always want more when you’re in and you’re sort of making it look a little bit easier than it is for a fresh batsman. So in the bigger picture of things, I think you’d always like a few more runs,” he further added.
Meanwhile, it was a day of two halves for New Zealand’s batting group as they had seen a collapse at the back-end of the innings as well.
“I think, it’s being positive in whichever sort of way you want to play. I think that’s something for us. We’ve tried to change our style against Indian spinners – It’s come out and be a little bit more positive. And that might be just hitting singles or being more positive in our defensive positions. I think in the first Test, we were able to hit a few more boundaries and be a bit more aggressive in our options. This test started out where they had the fielders back straight away. So the guys were able to sort of hit sweepers and sort of manipulate the ball a little bit more,” he shared.
Meanwhile, Luke Ronchi was also happy in some ways to see the pitch work. Already 1-0 up in the series, New Zealand will be trying their best to win as well.
“It’s going to be a surface where maybe as the game goes on, you’re not going to feel like you’re actually in. So then it’s like, alright, how do I get myself up the other end? How can I, as a partnership, how can we make it work? Where if getting singles is our best option, then maybe that is the best option. If it’s being more aggressive, how do you be more aggressive? So I think each batsman will work out how they want to play,” he said.
“I think this is the first toss we’ve won in an Indian Test match in a long, long time. So when you see some fingerspinners turning the ball the way they have done, it is encouraging. That’s what you want to see. I guess the nature of the surface look from the get-go was that it was going to turn a lot. And hopefully, as the Test goes on, that is the case, especially with us being able to bowl last on it. But still, it’s about control. It’s knowing that we can tie the Indian batters down for as long as we need to and hopefully create some chances to take wickets,” Luke Ronchi concluded.
