India and New Zealand face off against each other in the first ODI in Hyderabad on Wednesday, and their stand-in skipper for the 50-over format of the limited series, Tom Latham, has singled out one Indian player to look out for — Virat Kohli. The former India skipper has been in great form, with three centuries to his name in the last four matches. Two of these came against Sri Lanka, where the star batter finished as the top run-getter with 280 runs to his name.
While appreciating his performances, Latham was also wary of the threat that Kohli carries and has a plan in mind for him, "Virat has been playing some great cricket. Looks like he is hitting the ball well. We need to plan as best as we can like we do our scouting on all those guys. We will try to make it as tough as possible for him (to score runs)," Latham said on the eve of the ODI series against India in Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, New Zealand are travelling to India without their leadership trio of Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Kane Williamson. Latham admitted their absence will be felt but is confident in the bunch of players that have travelled to the subcontinent this time around.
"They (Boult, Southee, Williamson) are not in the side and that leaves a massive hole for us. On the other hand, it presents an opportunity for other guys who have been around the squad. Everyone has played international cricket in the squad which is a bonus," the wicketkeeper-batter added.
"It is their turn to step up. Luckily we have Lockie Ferguson who has played a lot of cricket in India. The cricket that we played in Pakistan was really good. Some of them had not toured Pakistan ever and to come up with a series win was really nice. Over here, we will try and adapt to the conditions as much as we can.
"Surfaces in India will potentially be a bit better than what we had in Pakistan. Every time we play India it is a competitive series," he said.
New Zealand
Tom Latham (captain), Finn Allen, Doug Bracewell, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Henry Shipley, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner.
