'Poor assessment of conditions cost us'

Not much has gone right for New Zealand in the series against India with their biggest letdown being batting. Barring skipper Kane Williamson and Tom Latham, none of the others have contributed consistently, leaving them with just one win so far.

Latham, with two half-centuries in the ODI series and three more in the preceding Test series, felt the main reason behind his mates’ failure is poor assessment of conditions. “In cricket you have to learn to adapt to different surfaces. I think we haven't assessed that early enough,” said the 25-year-old at the pre-match press conference on Tuesday. “I think this surface will also play different so we need to take our time, assess the conditions and then play better in the middle-order.

“For every game we prepare the same. The good thing about this group is that when things are not going our way, we don't get bogged down and when things are going our way, we don’t get too high. I think it’s important you make subtle changes in your game based on the surfaces. We know we haven't put our best foot forward in a few games now. Everyone is trying hard to put that perfect performance and we are certainly looking forward for that chance tomorrow.”

Latham said the lessons he has learnt on this tour will prove beneficial for him in the longer run. “It’s nice to spend a little bit of time in the middle. For me, it’s about getting used to the conditions because they are so different to the conditions back home.

“I suppose the more myself and everyone out there is exposed to these conditions, then the more experience we get and hopefully in future tours, we can challenge more and share our skills. Personally, it has been nice to spend a bit of time (in the middle) and getting used to the conditions.”