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Kiwi coach Rob Walter challenged 15-year-old India phenom Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to adapt to pacy NZ pitches during India's upcoming tour (5 T20Is, 5 ODIs, 2 Tests) starting Oct 22 in Christchurch.
India are scheduled to travel to New Zealand for a full-fledged tour comprising Tests, ODIs, and T20Is later this year. With the Test team still in transition and ODIs losing their sheen, the T20Is will get the most focus. India are three-time World T20 champions, with their last two titles coming in 2024 and 2026. The most exciting part of India's T20I team in recent times has been 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. The teenager made his India debut earlier this year against England, and Kiwi head coach Rob Walter wants to see how Sooryavanshi performs on New Zealand pitches.
"I’d love to see him on pacy and bouncy wickets and see how different that looks. But he’s an exciting player. You’ve seen him dominate against the world’s best bowlers in the IPL. I think the challenge is always to see how that translates to different conditions, and also how we bowl to him in our conditions,” Walter said during a media interaction.
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As for how he wants New Zealand to perform against Sooryavanshi and India, Walter added: "Again, secretly as a coach, you always want to see your players under a little bit of pressure and how we respond to that. So I am looking forward to it, if that is the case. If he’s not here, they do have a lot of very good players other than him."
India will play five T20Is, five ODIs, and two Tests on the tour, which will begin with the T20I series on October 22 in Christchurch. The next four matches of the T20I series will be played on October 24, October 27, October 30, and November 1 in Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland, and Hamilton, respectively.
After the T20Is come the ODIs, with matches scheduled for November 4 in Auckland, November 7 in Wellington, November 10 in Hamilton, and November 13 and November 15 in Mount Maunganui. The first Test starts on November 19 in Wellington, and the second Test is scheduled from November 27 in Christchurch.