Team India’s record in bilateral ODI series at home has been phenomenal, having lost just two out of 16 played since their defeat to Australia in 2009-10, and New Zealand captain Kane Williamson says that his team will have to play their best cricket to beat them.
India will start overwhelming favourites when they take on an inconsistent New Zealand in a three-match ODI series, starting on Sunday.
“India’s record is very good at home. They are a very hard team to beat. We know that, at home in particular, they are the strongest team in the world. There are no illusions that we need to come out and play our best cricket,” said Williamson ahead of the opening match at the Wankhede Stadium.
“We saw in the last series here that we were two all going into the decider which was a fairly good effort although we knew that perhaps we hadn’t played our best and it was a shame in that last game (in Visakhapatnam which the Kiwis lost to lose the series 2-3). It will be nice to come out in this series and, do a little bit better,” he hoped.
“Of late, we have been putting some good performances on the board and we know coming here, it is a very tough challenge and we have to be aware of this,” he added.
