New Zealand look to emulate India's spin masterclass, says assistant coach Luke Ronchi

NEW DELHI: Luke Ronchi, the assistant coach of New Zealand, stated that the team would aim to emulate the strategy employed by the Indian spinners when the second day of the second Test in Pune begins.

The Indian spinners, particularly Washington Sundar and Ravichandran Ashwin, effectively varied the speed of their deliveries to take wickets and restrict New Zealand's first innings total.

Sundar claimed an impressive 7 wickets for 59 runs, while Ashwin chipped in with 3 wickets for 64 runs. Their combined efforts limited New Zealand to a score of 259. In response, India reached 16/1 at the end of the first day's play.



"If you notice, for the first couple of sessions, the Indians were bowling quite quick -- the spinners -- and towards the back end they started to slow their pace," Ronchi told the media after the day's play.

Ashwin and Washington devised a strategy to induce a collapse in the New Zealand batting lineup, which had reached 197/3. The plan involved mixing up the pace of their deliveries to unsettle the batsmen.

Ashwin struck first, dismissing three top-order batsmen. Washington then took charge, claiming the remaining seven wickets, achieving his best-ever figures in Test cricket.

"That sort of made for variable, a bit more turn and bounce and variable sort of reactions off the surface, so that's something we can use in our bowling innings, knowing that changes of pace are quite significant," he added.

Ronchi praised Washington for maintaining consistent lengths on the first day, allowing him to maximize the surface's potential.

"It was just this consistency of being able to hit a good area for long periods of time. There were some balls that went really wide in the crease.

"He got some good drift and the ball that got Rachin (out) was from really wide and straight and hit (the off stump). That's a really nice ball to bowl for anyone," he said.

Ronchi mentioned that although the pitch at the MCA Stadium didn't provide as much spin as expected, the key for New Zealand would be to maintain tight bowling against the Indian batters.

"Both teams could quite easily say at the start of the day, they thought this wicket would turn more than it has so far, but again, it's just about tomorrow for us, build pressure, bowl in some good areas and get that ball (off) variable bounce," he added.

"We saw some balls today really jumped off a length and then some stayed a little bit, they just skidded through a little bit, 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," he added.