'Irrespective of surface, you have to go for wickets'

A key hand who worked behind the scenes with New Zealand to help them beat Rohit and Co in India in 2024 was their spin bowling coach Rangana Herath.

- Rasesh Mandani

DUBAI: The Sri Lankan had finished his Test career with 433 wickets in 93 matches but he had never managed to guide his team to a Test series win in India.

In an interview with HT, he spoke about that and the bunch of left-arm spinners who will be on show in the upcoming India-New Zealand Champions Trophy tie. Excerpts:

Is a lot of your coaching technical or tactical?

So basically, when the players are playing for their country, that means, to be honest, you don't have to work much on technical things. It's more of a discussion as well as tactical things.

How confident are you of your three spinners Mitch Santner, Michael Bracewell and Glenn Philips being able to exploit conditions in Dubai?

They have been doing well. We played almost five games—the triangular series as well as two other games in Champions Trophy in Pakistan. This one is going to be a new game. We need to start from zero. With that confidence as well as their performance, I am sure they will give their best for this game as well.

Indian batters predominantly play straight. If you are not using the sweeps and the reverse sweep, does it make it easier for the spinner?