India-New Zealand Test Series: Hitting their stride

Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, the torchbearers of India’s transition phase, will have to be the team’s driving force in its quest to lord over an unsettled New Zealand when the two sides square off in a three-Test series, beginning here on Wednesday.

The baton has not been completely passed, but Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are certainly running their last lap and these two young superstars will have to show that they can carry forward the legacy of the titans.

Since a productive series against England earlier this year, Gill is now more familiar and comfortable with the rigours of Test cricket.

It is reliably learnt that Gill has a stiff neck but should be able to play here and the team physio is hard at work to ensure that he is fully fit for the game that also faces the threat of rain.

Gill’s last 10 innings are dotted with three hundreds and two fifties, while Jaiswal’s last eight outings in Test cricket feature a 214 and five fifties. Those numbers are not to be scoffed at. But at the same time, it is important for them to build on the foundation through this series, a precursor to the much tougher journey to Australia next month.

Gill seems to have sorted his issues with the in-coming deliveries from pacers, but a trace of the old failing still remains. In Chennai, Bangladesh pacer Hasan Mahamud troubled him with nip-backers before eventually grabbing his wicket.

Similarly, Jaiswal has a penchant to go for expansive shots against pace bowlers to get dismissed, evidenced by his three dismissals recently against Bangladesh quicks.

In all, the left-hander has fallen to pacers 12 times in 20 innings, and he would want a better record before facing a clutch of top-class Australian pacers. While these concerns are not deeply rooted, they serve as cautionary points against a New Zealand attack that has capable hands in pacers Matt Henry, William O’Rourke and the experienced Tim Southee.

There is another angle to the emergence of Jaiswal and Gill as the pillars of the Indian line-up, as Kohli and Rohit have not precisely set the field ablaze. Rohit, who has played 15 innings this year, has made two hundreds but managed only one fifty in the remaining 13, totaling 497 runs in eight Tests at just over 35. Kohli, 53 runs shy of 9,000 Test runs, has not made even a fifty in six innings this year, and while Rohit often perishes in his attempt to grab the momentum, his colleague offers a much more curious case. The 35-year-old Kohli was not able to convert the two starts he got this year, ending up with 46 (vs SA) and 47 (vs Bangladesh), stirring the uncomfortable memories of that great slump between 2019 and 2023. The master batter will also have to keep an eye on New Zealand left-arm spinners Ajaz Patel and Rachin Ravindra. It has been a while since these two stalwarts embossed their mark across a full series, and a nervy New Zealand could be their golden chance to do so.

India has only minor concerns, but New Zealand’s troubles across batting and bowling departments are more pronounced.

Their batsmen struggled against Sri Lankan spinners recently while losing an away series 0-2, and here they will have to negate two modern-day greats in Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

They took 20 wickets together against Bangladesh and with the Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch expected to give some assistance to spinners, the veterans might be itching to have a bowl here. The Kiwis will have to contend with the genius of Jasprit Bumrah, who rattled Bangladesh by picking up 11 wickets in two Tests.