Why New Zealand Havent Announced Their Playing XI For WTC Final?
He may have been fielding questions from all around as to what will be his Playing 11 for the ICC World Test Championship Final against India but New Zealand coach Gary Stead isnt going to budge. In fact, if Stead is to be believed that they havent decided upon the final combination yet and will be holding that all-important decision till the time of the toss. In a stark contrast, India have named their Playing 11 on expected lines with no surprises. But for those hoping for a New Zealand XI, they will just have to wait till captain Kane Williamson himself talks about it at the toss time. Its amazing the number of Indian people that want to know [our team] as well," Stead said on Thursday. Were just putting that on hold until tomorrow until we get down there." When asked the reason, Stead said should the pitch be green, it will mean they need to play more pacers and hence the delay. The greener the pitch, the more chance youll play pace bowlers," Stead said The browner the pitch or dusty the pitch is when youre more likely to play spin bowlers or slower bowlers." There was a small green tinge on [the Southampton pitch] - its been interesting because weve been watching it over the last three days and its actually greened up over the last couple of days. They cut a bit of grass off it today but its still a light green colour," he added. With rain lashing Southampton on Thursday, there are several factors that may ultimately contribute to the worlds top-ranked teams final call on Playing 11. Additionally, New Zealand have plenty of options to choose from. We brought people in in that last Test [vs England] and they performed really well and sometimes that creates more of a headache but thats a great place to be in," Stead said. Im really proud of the way that the team have played over the last few years though - its been true to our style of play and Im just hoping we can get out there tomorrow and put our best foot forward," he added. When asked what will New Zealand do should they win the toss, Stead replied, The pitch is still favouring towards bowling at this stage from looking at it so I imagine if we won the toss, wed do that." Get all the IPL news and Cricket Score here