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Tom Latham, New Zealand's newly appointed Test captain, wants his team to play fearlessly in the upcoming three-match series against India, hoping to break their streak of four consecutive World Test Championship losses that have nearly ended their chances of reaching the final.
Latham has taken over as full-time captain following Tim Southee's resignation after the series against Sri Lanka last month.
His first challenge as captain will be the three Tests in Bengaluru, Pune, and Mumbai over the next three weeks, followed by hosting England for three matches at home.
Historically, New Zealand has struggled in India, winning only two out of 36 Tests, with their victories coming in Nagpur in 1969 and Mumbai in 1988.
During their recent tour of Sri Lanka, New Zealand lost the first Test by 63 runs and were heavily defeated in the second Test, where they were bowled out for just 88 runs in the first innings, losing by an innings and 154 runs.
"From my point of view it's about trying to continue doing the good stuff we've been doing, trying to put my spin on things," Latham said, as per quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
"It's an exciting challenging going over to India and once we can go over there hopefully (we can) play with a bit of freedom, bit of no fear and try and take it to them. If we do that hopefully gives ourselves a good chance," he added.
"Think in India we've seen teams that have done well out there in the past have been quite aggressive towards them, especially with the bat they've looked to play a few shots, but also put them under pressure which is really important over there rather than sitting and waiting for something to happen. We'll decide on how we want to play when we get over there, but guys have got plans around how they like to approach things and hopefully we can fine tune those," Latham said.
"We actually did some really good things in Sri Lanka," Latham added. "We fell on the wrong sides of the results but there were some good things. The approach we had with the bat, apart from that one innings I thought we played really well. So it's about continuing that as much as we can and trying to play a brand that we are proud of playing and if we do that hopefully it gives us a good chance," the New Zealand Test skipper said.
Latham has previously captained the Test side nine times as a stand-in for Kane Williamson between 2020 and 2022. Now, he has the chance to make a lasting impact as the permanent captain.
"Will certainly be leaning on those experiences," he said. "Obviously a different situation being full-time where you can put your own spin on things but think what I want to do is encourage guys to be themselves, be leaders amongst themselves as well and hopefully if we can do that we can play the brand of cricket we want to play," Latham said, as per quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
One of Latham's first decisions as captain will be whether to keep former captain Tim Southee in the playing XI, as Southee has had a poor run in Test cricket over the last year. Will O'Rourke performed exceptionally well in Sri Lanka, while Matt Henry and Ben Sears were available but not selected. Latham will likely rely on Southee's experience and knowledge as he navigates this decision.
"If you look back, think in Bangalore (Southee) took seven wickets last time we toured there," the New Zealander said.
"Someone with that amount of experience who's done it for many years there's certainly no reason why he can't get back to where he's been in the past. He's been a fantastic bowler for us for many years, there's a reason why he's so high on the wicket list for New Zealand," he added.
"He'll have a similar role that he has always had whether it's as captain or in the past, someone like that who has a wealth of experience, a wealth of knowledge in all conditions and he's done it for many years and has been successful. We'll certainly be tapping into his mind, his ideas, so looking forward to it," Latham noted.