Cheteshwar Pujara still feels the sting of last year’s drubbing in New Zealand but the batsman says India will be a different proposition when the sides clash again at the neutral venue of Southampton in next month’s World Test Championship (WTC) final.
India were blanked 2-0 in New Zealand, who are already quarantining in Southampton and will play a two-Test series against England before the WTC final from June 18.
“When we played the Kiwis in 2020, it was in their backyard,” Pujara told Times of India newspaper.
“That won’t be the case in the WTC final... it’s a neutral venue for both the teams. None of the teams will have a home advantage.”
As India’s top-order bulwark, Pujara will be expected to tame New Zealand’s formidable pace attack and the 33-year-old said he and his team mates were ready for the challenge.
“Their bowling attack is very well-balanced. We have faced their bowlers before and have a fair idea of how they operate, the angles they use, and we will be prepared.”
After the final, India will play a five-Test series against Joe Root’s side and Pujara was confident the tourists could win their first test series in England since 2007.
Part of that belief stems from India’s bench strength, which he felt was the best he had seen in the past decade.
“The amount of talent in the Indian circuit is humongous,” Pujara said, recalling how the injury-ravaged side triumphed 2-1 in Australia earlier this year. “The Australia series earlier this year was an example. We had so many injuries, but the backup options did well for us to win the series.
“Everyone in this Indian team is hungry to do well and that’s the sign of a good side.”
Meanwhile India wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha has recovered from Covid-19 ahead of the team’s England tour next month, the 36-year-old said. Saha, who plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League, tested positive on May 4 when the Twenty20 tournament was suspended indefinitely after several cases were reported.
He was still named in the India squad, subject to his fitness, for next month’s World Test Championship final against New Zealand in Southampton and the subsequent five-Test series against England.
“I have recovered. Thanks for all your wishes,” tweeted Saha, who served a two-week quarantine before reuniting with his family in Kolkata. Though considered technically a superior glovesman to Rishabh Pant, Saha has slipped behind the 23-year-old in India’s pecking order.
Pant, a more attacking batsman than Saha, kept wicket in all four tests against England in the home series in February.
India’s 20-member squad, led by Virat Kohli, is scheduled to enter a ‘bio-secure bubble’ in Mumbai before leaving for England early next month.

India to play extra games in Sri Lanka to ease virus losses

India have agreed to play more games on a tour of Sri Lanka in July to help overcome the national board’s financial losses from the coronavirus, a top official said yesterday.
Sri Lanka will also ask other visiting teams to play extra games to boost television revenues, said Shammi Silva, who was re-elected as Sri Lanka Cricket president yesterday. India were to play three Twenty20 internationals in Sri Lanka but have added three one-day internationals.
“India agreed to double the number of matches in their upcoming tour and this means we will get more revenue from television rights,” Silva told reporters.
He did not say how much the board had lost from tours cancelled last year but said similar requests to play more matches will be made to other teams.
Sri Lanka are scheduled to host South Africa in August, Scotland in September and Afghanistan in November.
England pulled out of a series in March last year but returned to the island in December to play two Tests without spectators at Galle.
Sri Lanka are currently in Bangladesh to play three one-day internationals.
The country has been battered by a new wave of the pandemic that has hit South Asia. It has banned airline passengers from entering until the end of May in a bid to contain a surge in infections.