FIRING THE FIRST SHOT

How New Zealand took down India in their own backyard to end the winning streak in Pune

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

DURING the middle of the Tom Latham press conference post the second Test at Pune, the only travelling New Zealand journalist had a request. He got up and performed a 20-second 'war dance' before proceeding to thank the Kiwi skipper for what his side and he managed to achieve over the last two Tests.

The Black Caps had been touring India for 69 years and have almost always gone back empty-handed. For the first time in their history, they beat the beast away from home. How did they do it? Latham, appointed as skipper following a disappointing 0-2 reverse at Sri Lanka last month, gathered his troops just before they departed. They wanted to try and do something different to the Indian bowlers, the spinners especially. "Fire the first shot," he said at the press conference in Pune. He repeated that phrase a few times. Mitchell Santner had used the exact same phrase after he had picked up a seven-wicket haul on Day Two of the Test.

What did he mean by 'firing the first shot'? Trying to bat with aggression, as a strategy, isn't reinventing the wheel. It's existed for as old as time. In fact, earlier in 2024, when England had come to these shores, they wanted to do the exact same thing. They had told everyone who had bothered to listen. The Indian spinners, slowly but surely, picked the batters. By the time the fifth Test had ended, the efficiency of their batters had reduced to the level of raffle-winners.