Newly-appointed New Zealand Test captain urges his team to adopt a fearless approach against India

New Zealand's newly-appointed Test captain, Tom Latham, has asked his team to adopt an aggressive approach as they are all set for a three-match series against India. Latham, who took over the reins of captaincy after Tim Southee stepped down, aims to steer the team out of a tough situation of four consecutive World Test Championship defeats as well, which have affected their hopes of reaching the final.

As quoted by ESPNCricinfo, Latham said, "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. "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."

"Think in India we've seen teams that have done well out there" - Tom Latham

"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," he stated.

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Tom Latham has earlier led New Zealand’s Test team in nine games, stepping in for veteran Kane Williamson between 2020 and 2022 as well. Now, as the full-time captain, he is hoping to encourage the players to be themselves and prepare more leaders within the group.

"Obviously a different situation being full-time" - Tom Latham

"Will certainly be leaning on those experiences," he further added. "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."

The first match between India and New Zealand will take place in Bengaluru on October 16.