The Black Caps can now afford a little time to think about the World Test Championship final scheduled for Lord's in June.
India were confirmed as their opponents after their series win over England at the weekend.
Kane Williamson Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Black Caps have just completed a Twenty20 series victory over Australia and won't play another Test this summer.
Their last was against Pakistan in early January.
While they now know who'll they'll play in the lucrative one-off final, Black Caps coach Gary Stead says they can't lose focus of the Bangladesh tour.
"The nice thing is we've known we're going to be there for a while and it was just working out who we were going to play and India is a great team with world-beaters and so now it allows us to start some planning, but we've got Bangladesh coming here first."
The fact that the final will be played in England doesn't give either side an advantage according to Stead.
"India are a very well travelled team these days and they play well in all conditions and to get to the final you have to win some away from home as well and they've certainly done that and if we need a reminder at all, and I don't think we do, then think about how they played in Australia, I think they were outstanding over there."
Stead says he's been watching India playing tests this summer.
"I love test cricket and I love watching test cricket in India as well, but the way the game has been played over there I expect will be different to what it will be like in England, but always interesting just to see how we play there considering we'll be there at the end of the year as well."
Meanwhile India head coach Ravi Shastri is still bitter how the qualifying rules were changed last year.
The nine top test teams were originally scheduled to play six series each over two years in the WTC, with the top two making the showcase final in London.
But after the Covid-19 pandemic halted the game last year, the governing International Cricket Council decided to rank teams based on percentage of points earned from completed matches, instead of total points, to determine the finalists.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
India, leading the table with 360 points, slipped behind Australia under the new rankings unveiled in November with skipper Virat Kohli questioning the logic behind the rule change.
Kohli's team went into the home series against England as part of a three-horse race, also including Australia, to join New Zealand in the WTC final.
"Please don't shift the goal post," Shastri said when asked if he found any aspect of the inaugural WTC cycle problematic.
"You have got more points than any other team in the world, 360 at that time, and suddenly there's a percentage system where you go from number one to number three in a week," Shastri said.
Kohli's men won away in Australia and at home against England to make the WTC final and Shastri said it had not been an easy task.
"We've have had to dig deep. We've had to go down every hole that's needed to find water and we found it.
"We put ourselves in the final of the World Test Championship, the biggest trophy in the world, with 520 points."
The white-ball leg of India's home series against England will begin on Friday with the first of the five Twenty20 Internationals in Ahmedabad.
-RNZ/Reuters
