India vs New Zealand: Do Kane Williamson-Mitchell Santner resemble Virat Kohli-Ravichandran Ashwin?

It is after two years that India are set to play New Zealand in Tests, and it is after six years that New Zealand will visit India for the same. Virat Kohli’s lead team India must be quite confident looking at their form while Kane Williamson’s men would be vary that they are not the favourites. A series of high intensity is in the making, a series that will change many equations. Spin paradise India has forever been a big challenge for the Kiwis and the fact that the team has seldom had any spinning master has affected the team. However, the team’s bowling looks promising this time and the series is sure to become an exciting one.

Kane Williamson is up for a big challenge in the very start of his stint as New Zealand Test captain, facing India. India is not one of those places where New Zealand has performed too well in the past. While the onus of bettering the nations record lie upon a tenderfoot Williamson, who has only captained a couple of series, there is one name who can make a lot of difference in how the game will proceed and that name is Mitchell Santner. In turn, a bigger name awaits the visitors, India’s very own Ravichandran Ashwin.

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The already hard series has become even harder for Kiwis. Just before the start of the series, the team lost their bowling spearhead Tim Southee to injury for all the Tests. The fact that Southee was the most successful and experienced among the bowlers is bound to affect their performance as well as mindset. Though Trent Boult has the potential to take up all the responsibility and hit the top-order at their weak zones, what the team in total lacks is experience and with Southee sitting out, the situation is not helped. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs New Zealand, First Test, at Kanpur

However, the two teams have a very similar looking situation. Both the captains, two of the most talented batsmen in the world currently, are enjoying Test captaincy (short span). Though Kohli is senior on paper if captaincy is concerned, he has not led the team in full series for more than a year. Kohli has a long way to walk to call himself an accomplished Test skipper. Williamson has received the captaincy recently and has captained the side only in four Tests, making this series even more crucial.

India, for the favourable conditions, has produced spinners in bulk. Ashwin gradually has proven his worth and has become not only the most effective spinner for the team but also the bowling lead, with his experience and understanding of the game. Ashwin offers brain-teasing challenges to the opponents. He plays with their patience and never gives up on his plans, getting his desired wicket. With a focused bowling plan, Ashwin has broken many records and has become one of the most successful spinners Indian cricket team has ever had.

Let us have a look at Ashwin’s performance under Kohli’s tenure. Kohli took over captaincy from Dhoni during India’s series against Australia at the latter’s home. Australia had already won the series comfortably and all that Kohli could do taking over the duties in the last match was to end it in a draw. Starting from that match, one bowler who has been Kohli’s trump card is Ashwin. While it was Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar who were being expected to pick up the most number of wickets at Sydney Cricket Ground, Ashwin picked up 5 wickets, four more than Bhuvneshwar.

India next played a one-off Test with neighbours Bangladesh. Ashwin picked up 5 wickets, being the highest wicket-taker for India.

Kohli’s first full series was with Sri Lanka at the latter’s home. As expected, spinners were atop the list of most wicket-takers, Ashwin being at the numero uno position. The bowler picked up 21 wickets in 6 innings, six more than No. 2 Amit Mishra.

Ashwin maintained his run in the next home series against South Africa. A good looking South Africa team struggled to face the Indian spinners. Ashwin picked up 31 wickets from four matches, picking up as many as 12 wickets in one match.

The next Test series that Kohli’s India played was also overseas, in West Indies. A land where the pacers were expected to go all guns blazing, Ashwin took full advantage of the ball turning later towards the innings, emerging as the highest wicket-taker of the series with 17 wickets from four matches.

In all the full Test series that Kohli has captained so far, Ashwin has been the highest wicket-taker for the side as well as the series, making it reason enough to making him the most reliable bowler for the young skipper.

While Williamson has captained the side to a victory against Zimbabwe and a 1-0 defeat to South Africa in Tests, he acquired some experience of leading the side in India during the ICC World T20 2016. New Zealand had an exceptional run in the tournament and two players who had been the star performers are Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi, Santner being the most economical. Santner’s action and the way he utilised the Indian conditions on his very first encounter in India left everyone praising him. Though both Santner and Ish Sodhi (along with Shakib Al Hasan) emerged as the highest wicket-takers of the tournament with 10 wickets from 5 matches, Santner picked up most of the top-order batmen with rich techniques, including names like Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni, Steven Smith and David Warner among others.

While both Kohli and Williamson will be the pillars of their respective sides, both will look to utilise Ashwin and Santner skill’s respectively looking at the pitch. If not very green, the captains might go in with more spinners in the side and would expect to get these two bowlers get the most number of wickets. Ashwin’s occasional doosras are bound to outwit those who have the tendency to walk back and make room while Santner’s left-arm spin can drive the ball away from the batsmen, getting Rohit and Kohli in the weak zones outside off-stump. To conclude, it is the captaincy of Kohli and Williamson to use their two most promising spinners and Ashwin and Santner’s performances that will act as major factors behind deciding the fate of the series.

(Paulami Chakraborty, a singer, dancer, artist, and photographer, loves the madness of cricket and writes about the game. She can be followed on Twitter at @Polotwitts)