India vs New Zealand: Who will shine in Tim Southee’s absence?

New Zealand, led by Kane Williamson, walk into a series where the hosts are already favourites and the worst that could have happened was to lose their most dependable pacer for the entire Test series. Tim Southee, having injured his ankle during the training session and being ruled out immediately, has left a void in the side that can hardly be filled in at this moment. However, the Kiwi selectors have roped in Matt Henry to complete their squad, which already looks to lack the kind of bowlers needed to lead them to win the series. The biggest question now — who will replace Tim Southee in playing eleven?

Southee’s records against India are something that makes him the most essential of the bowlers for the Test series. Southee is the third most successful New Zealand bowler against India in Tests, following Sir Richard Hadlee and Bruce Taylor. Playing six matches against the team, Southee bagged 25 wickets and is ahead of his teammate Trent Boult, who has 15 wickets from four Tests. Of the six Tests, three were played in India from which he bagged 12 wickets, including an 8-wicket haul in Bangalore.

Add Cricket Country as a Preferred Source

Of all the bowlers, Southee is the most Test experience in the squad when it is about playing against India. Experience is something this squad needs, starting from the captain to the bowling unit and not having a 52-Tests-old bowling spearhead does not seem to be something that the visitors cope with. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs New Zealand, 1st Test at Kanpur

With Southee not around, it is Boult who will have to take up the responsibility on his shoulder. Boult has played two Test matches in India and picked up 5 wickets. Boult will lead the pace attack, and one name who will accompany him will be Neil Wagner. Wagner’s first encounter with India was quite fruitful as the bowler picked up 8 wickets in the Test.

On paper, the bowlers look good to go but what may become an obstacle is the playing conditions. Indian pitches, known to favour spinners more, makes it harder for the pacers as it is and New Zealand with three spinners in their squad will perhaps play just one pacer. The captain has to look for options who can get accustomed to the conditions quickly and read the pitch fast to act accordingly. Pacers need to be disciplined and stick to the safest line and length without much scope to experiment and that is where the experience helps, which the bowling definitely lacks.

The current Indian batting line-up consists of extremely talented players and to add more to their credit, most are in form. While experienced ones, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara have experience and are in good run of form; the young one in the pack, KL Rahul is in a terrific form, scoring centuries. The batting goes down up to No. 7 including Ravichandran Ashwin, who is capable of scoring a lot of runs down the order. Loose deliveries in order to experiment and learn to find the perfect line and length can cost a lot of free runs against this line-up, which in turn will result in a huge total.

The fact that Indian batsmen are good players of spin helps the hosts even more, for they can face a lot of challenges against spinners with ease even when the pitch favours the bowler and what New Zealand will need is a very good spin attack. Though Mitchell Santner, Mark Craig and Ish Sodhi are good options for Williamson to pick from and can scalp crucial wickets, what they will need is support from the pace department. The speedsters need to utilise the new ball well and make sure India fails to build any strong partnership. A few scalps earlier in the day will be something that can prove immensely helpful for the spinners to come into action and create even more pressure on the batsmen.

New Zealand’s performance depends a lot on their bowlers since the team lacks technical batsmen compared to their opponents. While India’s line-up looks sorted with openers, top-order to lower-middle-order, New Zealand have a few big names in Williamson, Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor scattered in the line-up to ensure a big score for the team. Another name is BJ Watling who has shown potential but is not tried and tested. The bowlers, hence, will have to walk that extra mile to give good competition to India. READ: BJ Watling’s temperament, technique and sound wicketkeeping skills makes him a potent threat

A prominent factor that the pacers have noticed over the years about Indian batting and like to play with is their problems facing the out-swingers. For Rohit Sharma, the weak zone has been just outside the off-stump while Kohli has time and again fallen for similar deliveries. Southee has a tendency to bowl out-swingers and hit on the weak zone, which keeps the batsmen under pressure. Wagner and Boult will have to find these weak zones out and bowl in those areas.

However, this also is a chance for the second New Zealand pacer, Boult, to own the series. What helps Boult is his experience of playing in Indian Premier League (IPL) for which he had to understand Indian conditions and pitches well. Boult can transform this into an opportunity to better his numbers in subcontinent.

However, more than the pacers, eyes will be on Santner, for he was one bowler who bowled exceptionally in India recently, playing in the ICC World T20 2016. Santner was among the most effective bowlers of the tournament despite not having much experience and that showed how much he can turn the ball here in these conditions. This series will be his chance to prove his potential across formats and impress in whites as well.

(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)