"Fire a shot at India, get on the front foot" - Head coach Gary Stead on how NZ achieved historic white-wash [Exclusive]

You know the stats: New Zealand hadn't won a Test in India since 1988, New Zealand hadn't won a series in India ever, New Zealand won three Tests in a series—home or away—for the first time, India were on a 18-Test-series winning streak at home, India were white-washed 0-3 at home for the first time.

But do you know the story? Of how 16 Kiwi men and their small support group, who had just been defeated 2-0 in Sri Lanka, who were without arguably their best batter Kane Williamson in the series, and their most in-form bowler Mitchell Santner in the last game, did the unthinkable and the unfathomable?

In this exclusive chat with Sportkseeda from Mumbai, head coach Gary Stead tells it all. He gives insight into the preparation that went behind the scenes, the key things that worked in the visitors' favor and of course, the Kiwi Way.

Excerpts from Gary Stead's interview

Gary, you have now won the WTC final, clean-swept India in India, and reached the finals of an ODI and T20 World Cup—how content and happy does that CV make you?

Look. It's pretty incredible, really, when you consider the history of New Zealand playing India, in India in particular, we'd only ever won two test series before this, and then to come here and win all three games is simply incredible and very, very proud of the way that our guys have played. And for me, it ranks right up there as one of the best achievements that this team's ever achieved.

How have the board, the families, and the people back home reacted? We are suddenly seeing New Zealand Cricket Twitter shining!

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I'm not sure people could quite believe what has been achieved over here. And I mean, international cricket is tough. You play good teams all the time, and I don't think there was that expectation of coming here and winning too many games, but I think the people back home are proud of the way the teams played and to upset India like that, I think is a huge feather in the cap of our players.

Before this Test series, especially in Sri Lanka, did you feel the criticism from back home? What was it that went wrong in Sri Lanka, and did you change anything for India taking any lessons from there?

We were supposed to play Afghanistan first up in Noida and that got washed out. And then the two Tests in Sri Lanka, and three here. So we were viewing it as a six-match sort of series for us, where we wanted to keep improving each time we played and adapting well to the different conditions that you face. And that's the thing with I think India in particular, the pitch in Bengaluru was very different to the one in Pune, and very different again in Mumbai. So I think we talked a lot about our ability to adapt to different conditions, to try and apply some sort of pressure to the Indian spinners as well.

But I also don't think we played really, really poorly in Sri Lanka either. We could have won the first Test. It was a reasonably tight affair right through. And the second test, we dropped a couple of catches, unfortunately, which can happen, and that changed the game.

I'm assuming that the processes would have remained the same and the results turned when you came to India?

Yeah, very much. I mean, it was around having confidence as a team, that we fire a shot at India for a start. Then you try and get on the front foot and then hold that ascendancy for as long as you can. And I thought we were fantastic the way we started in Bengaluru and put India on the back foot, and had a big lead, but they showed their fighting qualities as well. And look, India is an extremely proud nation as well. And I know the loss will be hurting their team as well.

When you came here, did this team and did you believe that you could defeat India three-nil?

I'm not sure we truly believed that (smiles), but I think when you win the first one, that gives you confidence. And then we expected to get a turner in Pune, and look, we were lucky the two games after that, we won the toss as well. We batted first on a difficult wicket and probably got a competitive total and we bowled very well. And Mitchell Santner was outstanding in Pune, and Ajaz Patel, here in Mumbai, which is fantastic for Ajaz, considering he was born here as well. And so look, I think it was an unexpected three-nil victory, but we'll certainly take it, though.

Before the first Test, what were the things that you identified as the challenges you needed to overcome and the… maybe weaknesses in India's pattern of play that you could use to your advantage? Did everything work out as you planned?

We didn't necessarily see weaknesses in the Indian lineup, but we talked more about how we wanted to play and we were clear that we needed to put some sort of pressure on the Indian spinners as well. And look, the Bengaluru wicket didn't spin too much, so it probably suited our style a wee bit better. And I think that gave the guys confidence when we went to Pune, that we knew we needed to be reasonably positive and try not to let the spinners settle too much. I think if you just try and sit there for too long and survive, you will ultimately probably get out, especially on the wicket, there was a wee bit, like up and down, in terms of the bounce, height of it, and the speed that the Indian spinners bowl does put you under pressure, but also it allows you some scoring opportunities, if you think a little bit differently, to how we do in New Zealand.

So when we were in New Zealand, we had three camps. We produced spinning wickets that were different paces as well. And we tried to, I guess, replicate throwing the ball and bowling the ball faster than we normally would at home, just to try and make the reaction time of the batsmen a lot shorter as well. And so, we had nine or 10 days of training back there, where we just worked on those skills, and we tried to take that to Sri Lanka.

Look, most of the time, we played well in Sri Lanka. We had one innings we weren't quite as positive, and we were bowled out for less than 100 so sort of, I think that was a good learning point for us as well that, hey, we want to commit to a style of play, and we're going to be wholehearted into this. So, yeah, that was it, really. And the players watch a lot of videos; they have seen [Ravichandran] Ashwin and [Ravindra] Jadeja. I mean, they've got so many Test wickets between them that you have to just work out a way that will work for you.

Was there any kind of data munching involved or just going the traditional way of watching footage and using the experience…?

We do use data, and we look at the lengths that people bowl, but it's not so much around that. It's more just around trying to build the trust in the players that they can execute their plans and try and go out there and play with the freedom that we want them to play with. So that was more the case than using too much data.

I think you'd agree that the first Test was won in the first innings. Were New Zealand planning to bowl first, too, if you had won the toss — what was your assessment of the pitch?

No, we would have batted first as well. We thought if the game went the whole way, then it was going to be more difficult at the end of the Test match than at the start of it. So that would have been our decision if we'd won the toss. We would have batted first as well like India did.

Did you assess the pitch to not be that kind of pace-friendly, even with the moisture on the second morning?

Yeah, look, we were surprised, I think, a little bit with the pace of the wicket. But I think that our seam bowlers bowled exceptionally well that first morning and put India under a lot of pressure. And it was one of those days that, rather than playing and missing they were sort of nicking everything. And Will O'Rourke was outstanding. And I think used his pace and height very well. Matt Henry and Tim Southee were very accurate. And I think, yeah, it was a nice surprise to see that much in the wicket, we weren't expecting that much either.

Spin truly came to its own in the 2nd and 3rd Tests. That's always the big challenge in India. Was there anything different that the batters or bowlers did in their preparations to get ready for this series? People speak about the proactiveness but the defensive work, playing 100s of deliveries against spinners -- it was extraordinary!

I mean, we were preparing when we were back in New Zealand for probably more spin-friendly conditions than what we had in Bengaluru. So that was a little bit surprising that it didn't spin more there than we thought it might. So in terms of that, I think we were prepared for the worst-case scenario of the ball really turning a lot. But you also have to adapt, I think, to the black clay of the wickets that were in Pune, and the red clay here in Mumbai, which just bounces a lot more as well. So that's one of the things I was very, very proud of—the way the guys adapted their preparation. A lot [of the times] you have to think on your feet, but the key thing is being very, very clear in your plan and how you want to go about it.

And I don't think there were any batting averages across the series of people more than 50 (Rachin Ravindra averaged 51.20, followed by Will Young at 48.80 and Washington Sundar at 44.50), but perhaps Rishabh Pant was there (43.50), I haven't looked closely at it, but he puts the bowlers under a lot of pressure. And I think we learned that a bit as well. Our guys do it a little bit differently to him but he certainly puts the bowlers under pressure when, when he's batting.

One obvious factor was how well and how confidently the batters swept and reverse swept — better than most sides that come here. How were the preparations for it? And how do you build confidence in employing that in crunch situations? India struggles in that regard too…

I think building confidence comes from players being able to execute their skills and working out a method. And I think that it's true to say that the wickets are very, very tough to get started on. So if you can get through the first 20-30, balls, that naturally builds confidence for you to play a certain way. But we were very clear that you have to take some risk to get started as well, and that also comes with the potential of losing your wicket. And sometimes that happened for players but we were prepared to try and do that to put the Indian spinners under pressure right from the start.

Someone who really impressed in that regard was Will Young. How's he like behind the scenes? He certainly didn't let you miss someone as important as Kane Williamson!

Will has been in and around our team for the last three or four years. He has played 19 or 20 Test matches here, but he hasn't had a run in a row, perhaps, for a while [like] what he got here. So I think he came in, he didn't want to be Kane Williamson or play like Kane Williamson and then we encouraged him to just be himself. And he's a lovely striker of the ball. He was part of our one-day World Cup squad as well. So we certainly see a very, very high ceiling for Will as well. But it makes for some tough decisions when we get home now when Kane Williamson does come back into our side as well.

What did you make of Tom Latham’s captaincy and how important was it on and off the field? The view from India was he looked like he had played 10 seasons of domestic cricket in India, he was so proactive, on the money always.

Yeah, I think you build on the experiences that you've had in the past. And I thought Tom was outstanding in the way he got our guys together and the consistency of messages that he was giving as well. It's [not] always easy. You get put under pressure at different times, but I think the key to being a good captain is finding ways to get the best out of the players and to try and be nice and calm in all situations, and that's certainly how I think he performed over here.

In the bowling department, where was this Mitchell Santner hiding so far?

Mitchell was outstanding in Pune, wasn't he? It was unfortunate for us in that last Test match that he'd heard his side but he was brilliant in Pune, and just hit the right lengths, and I think kept the wickets in play as much as he could. And again, that's something we learned from the likes of Jadeja, who's always bowling at the stumps, and you have to play a lot of deliveries, so some turn, some don't, and that's where I think the danger comes in with batting.

With him as well, I think it was the same process in Sri Lanka, but the results turned here in India...

Yeah, I think perhaps here the surface at Pune suited him a little bit more. But look, you do learn and you get better. I thought he didn't bowl with a lot of luck in Sri Lanka, he had a couple of catches dropped off him as well. And when that happens, perhaps you don't get the confidence you want. But he started the spell well here, he got some early wickets, and I think he just grew and grew in his ability to keep putting the ball in the right areas time and time again, and that applied enough pressure.

Glenn Phillips was your second spinner for most of the series! Till a couple of years ago, we only knew him as a wicketkeeper. Here he was putting so much body and revs behind every delivery. It can't be easy to do that and bowl this much in such a short turnaround. How has he been able to do that, and a word on his growing importance?

Glenn Phillips loves bowling, for a start, probably loves it more than anyone else I know. He's always in the nets. He's always looking to try and get better and work on his consistency, his accuracy and how he goes about his business. And if you look at Glenn's development over the last two or three years, it's been phenomenal really, from a guy who wasn't really in in too many teams to now being a starter in all three teams for us. So he's obviously a live wire on the field. He brings a lot of energy, and he can change the game very quickly with the bat and the ball. So for us, he's a very, very important part of our side.

Before this series, Rangana Herath linked up with the team for the Sri Lanka and Afghanistan Tests and then he came to India too. What role did he play in this success?

Well, we used Rangana Herath to come in for the series, just because of the spinning conditions. He obviously is a super king in Sri Lanka and has had so much success at Galle that we thought having his knowledge around would be important. And then we thought bringing him to India made sense as well. Obviously, when you come to India, you bring more spinners, and so they need to be serviced and looked after like all other players, and I think sometimes in New Zealand you don't necessarily have the spin bowling expertise. So having Rangana around to just have conversations with players, to give them some options to think about, was outstanding.

There's a debate in India that rank-turner pitches help oppositions more than India in Tests. What is your view on that? Were you happier seeing the turning tracks in the 2nd and 3rd Tests which helped Ajaz and Philips a lot more?

I think if the pitches turn too much, then it brings the opposition into play as well. And winning the toss also helped as well in the last two Test matches. But I also think that we have very good spinners as well, like Ajaz Patel has a fantastic record over in Asia, Mitchell Santner is very, very accurate as well, Glenn Phillips continues to get better and then we had the difference with Ish Sodhi, who got a key wicket for us in this Test match too. So, yeah, I think there's a combination of that. But I do think if the wickets turn too much, then the opposition comes into the game more as well.

Daryl Mitchell spoke about a certain “Kiwi way” to do things. What exactly does that mean to you? What did this group of Kiwis have that their predecessors didn't? There's England with its BazBall and now suddenly everyone is trying to play high-intent cricket but the “Kiwi way” just managed to find the right balance?

We are just a small country of 5 million people down at the bottom of the world, and sometimes it feels quite isolated down there. And I think for a long time, New Zealand teams tried to play like England or play like Australia, and we weren't being really true to ourselves. And Kiwis are hard-working people. They roll their sleeves up, and they try and find a way to get things done, and that's what we try and, I guess, mimic with our side as well. We're prepared to go in there, probably as underdogs as well in this series, and say, well, okay, if that's the case, how do we fire some shots at India, and how do we make sure that they know they're in a real fight out there? And that's something that that we try and I guess, pride ourselves on when we're out in the middle playing against any opposition.

How important would that be for the remaining WTC games and as the team goes towards a more transitional kind of phase with a lot of players now older than 30?

It's always important we go in with the right mentality and the right attitude to every Test match. So that hasn't changed for us. I think confidence helps you to execute how you want to play a little bit more.

I think since we won the World Test Championship against India in 2021, it's been transitioning anyway. And if you think of that side, you had Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, BJ Watling, Kyle Jamison, there's six players that were in that World Test Championship Final that aren't here now, I think there's been a transition period going on for a while, and whilst we still have some guys who are on the plus-30 side, they still have a lot to offer, and we're a country that I think, try not to chop and change too much, because you only have so many international class cricketers in your country. So we try and make sure that they get every opportunity to show that they belong here and that they should be playing at this level.

Do you this series, and this phase of New Zealand cricket as a whole, could've given a new life to the sport back at home?

Look, I mean, I think it has probably made it for a very, very exciting summer at home, I think with the White Ferns also winning the World Cup and the Black Caps doing what they've done here in India, it's probably really generated more interest and I expect to see a lot of sell-out crowds when we get back home for the England series as well.