Henry Nicholls dubs Indian spinners as real threat: 'We are expecting it to be tough'

New Zealand batsman Henry Nicholls has said his team is warier of Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja as they still don't know if the Southampton pitch has the spin to offer. Nicholls, while speaking to news agency PTI, said New Zealand and India have a similar kind of pace attack in the form of Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Ishant Sharma, Neil Wagner, Mohammed Shami, and Tim Southee, adding "It is Ashwin and Jadeja we need to be prepared for". 

"Mohammed Shami along with Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma have proven their quality over the years which is similar to our seamers (Trent Boult, Tim Southee, and Neil Wagner) on whom we really pride ourselves on. "So if you are facing that kind of a line-up, it's an exciting challenge and as a group, we are expecting it to be tough but also looking forward to the challenge. Also, the guile of Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja is something that we need to be prepared for," Nicholls was quoted as saying by PTI. 

NZ experimenting with cat litter

When asked about his teammate Devon Conway's strategy to practice on a pitch with some dry cat litter in order to create spin, Nicholls said they experimented with it in the camp before coming to the UK. Nicholls said it makes the ball turn more, which helps in practice. Nicholls said the encounter between India and New Zealand is going to be interesting given their rankings on the ICC Test table. He said when the number 1 and 2 placed teams will play each other there is going to be some kind of challenge. 

Nicholls also talked about his batting in Test cricket in the recent past, adding "It's nice to get some big runs on the board". Nicholls has scored two centuries and a half-century in the last three Test matches that he has played. However, those runs have come against bottom-ranked West Indies and Pakistan. Playing against India is going to be a different ballgame altogether. Nicholls acknowledged the challenge and said the last time India toured New Zealand, Black Caps managed to beat the Virat Kohli-led side 2-0, adding "but obviously it's going to be different this time around as the match will be played on a neutral venue". 

IMAGE: AP