The fact that New Zealand typically comes into
international competitions as one of the best-prepared teams allows them to
compete on an equal footing with teams that have greater population options. To
maintain their impressive track record of reaching at least the semifinals in
the last four World Cups, they must seize any slight advantage.
New Zealand faces the same opposition in the opening
match of what will undoubtedly be the most watched World Cup, but without the
brutal boundary countback rule that cost them the championship four years
prior.
India is already a challenging country to scout. They
had to wait years for their next ODI due to the abundance of venues, which
provides little information regarding the nature of the pitches. In certain
places, like Ahmedabad, the square has two distinct types of soil with two
whole different sets of behaviour.
To make matters worse, due to injuries or the desire
to protect their finest players from the more demanding schedules, the teams
have hardly ever played with their complete rosters between the two World Cups.
“Obviously, the end goal is to be there at the
end [of the tournament], which I’m sure every team has,” Latham said when
asked if he was confident they could adapt. “But I think something we
pride ourselves on as a group is being able to adapt as best we can. We are
lucky that we have guys who have played plenty of cricket in these parts of the
world, whether it be against India or in the IPL.
“We have got that mix of experience where we are
able to lean on guys around. [Some] guys have played at this ground, some guys
haven’t. So adapting is a really important part of playing over in these
conditions that can change throughout the game. It is being able to think on
our feet a little bit and make sure we stay ahead of the game.”
“I’m sure guys don’t want to jump the gun,”
Latham said. “Everyone is in a slightly different situation in terms of
what the future may look like. But for us, we are trying to enjoy the next sort
of couple of months together as a group, and have it however that pans out.
Hopefully for the good. We are just trying to enjoy each other’s company over
the next period of time at such a special occasion playing cricket over here in
India. Embrace what comes with being over here, I’m sure guys will make
decisions around what that may look like for them in the future.”