'They're No.1 in the world for a reason' – Boult expects India to come back strong after Wellington defeat

New Zealand got the better of India in each department in the first Test and handed them their first defeat in the ICC World Test Championship. A feature of their struggle was the collective failure with the bat, as they could scrape up only eight more than New Zealand's first innings score of 348 across both their innings, with just one fifty-plus score. Despite the magnitude of the defeat, Boult is expecting India to remain motivated.

"We're definitely expecting them to adapt pretty quickly and be positive coming into this test match," Boult told reporters on Friday, 28 February. "Their records speak for themselves. They're No.1 in the world for a reason and that's solely because they can adapt to any conditions."

Boult had missed the entire limited-overs leg against India with an injury to his right hand, which he had sustained in the second Test against Australia in Melbourne in December. He made a fine return during the first Test, accounting for four of India's top-five in the second innings to virtually knock them out of the contest. He now looks forward to put on an even better show at the Hagley Oval, where he had bagged nine-wickets in New Zealand's massive 423-run win against Sri Lanka in December 2018.

"The Basin has generally turned into a very nice batting surface," Boult said as he compared the two surfaces. "There's a lot of runs been scored there both in domestic and international cricket. Here's a slightly different story. You're not battling the wind first of all. The overheads are there and it's generally a nice place to pitch the ball up and get it swinging around."

With Neil Wagner set to return and the surface expected to assist the quicker bowlers, the 30-year-old hinted that New Zealand are likely to go with an all-seam attack on Saturday.

"If you play four seamers you might struggle to get the ball at certain stages, but I think [captain] Kane [Williamson] will balance it nicely. That was our motto for a while on green wickets was to just go all out seam. We know what we're doing and we're excited about it."