With a busy schedule ahead for the next month and a half, New Zealand camp know for a fact that the only way to escape the jam-packed fixture list is by finding a way to survive the Indian spin threat and at the same time find a way for their own spinners to adapt quickly to the SG Test from kookaburra ball.
Negating the hosts' spin wizards may be a challenge, but simultaneously the Kiwis have also got to look for a way to stop the explosive Indian batsmen from scoring runs at will. So no wonder the side led by Kane Williamson has brought on three specialist spinners along with them.
Seeing the success the Black Caps enjoyed during the World T20 earlier this year, it was no surprise to see the Kiwis include the spin trio of Ish Sodhi, Mark Craig and Mitchell Santner in the squad. However, the priority for them is to keep Ravichandran Ashwin and Co at bay first.
Ahead of the Kiwis' three-day practice game against Mumbai, starting on Friday at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground here, both the captain Williamson and coach Mike Hesson unanimously agreed spin will be a crucial factor in India.
"During the previous series in India, spin certainly played a huge part and I think batting was difficult. I have no doubt it will be a bit of a scare, so spin from both teams will play a big part. We have three good spinners and it should be a good contest," Kane told the reporters here on Tuesday.
Echoing the captain's opinion, Hesson, who was also present during the media interaction, believes the recent Zimbabwe tour will help them get accustomed to the sub-continent conditions as he feels the wicket in India will be similar to the one they faced in Bulawayo.
"We spent a lot of time in Bulawayo in Zimbabwe before South Africa, so that was a pretty much spin dominant series (against Zimbabwe) and the wickets were slow and similar pace of what we get in India," said Mike.
"However, it's very difficult for us to replicate those conditions at home, so the week ahead of the first Test is crucial for recovery and preparing individual game plans but most of the players have played here before and certainly had success in the sub-continent and we will certainly go on that experience as well," he added.
Prior to losing the two-match Test series against South Africa 1-0 last month, Kiwis won both the Tests against Zimbabwe.
Even though Hesson believes he has a fairly younger group of spinners, the coach is still hopeful that New Zealand spinners will be able to adapt to the 'SG Test' ball from the 'Kookaburra'.
"look there have been a number of overseas spinners who done have well in these conditions. Our spin group is young and the challenge is adjusting to a different ball to 'SG Test' from 'Kookaburra'," he said.
"There are changes in seam angles. Our bowlers are not going to bowl like sub-continental bowlers but we have to create opportunities."
The Kiwis coach also reckoned reverse swing will be a huge factor when one plays in these conditions where ball reverses.
"I think it's a huge component of playing cricket overseas. In surfaces where there's not much seam movement, we need to find another way. We are keen to get reverse in legitimate fashion. We have to work on them in coming days," said Mike.
Despite agreeing with the fact that playing the No 2 ranked India in their own territory will be a tough ask, Williamson and company cannot wait for the start of the series.
"We know it will be a challenge. India in their home conditions is one of the toughest challenges in the game, especially in the longest format. New Zealand is quite excited to take them on, especially after returning from Zimbabwe and South Africa where the conditions are quite different," said the World No3 Test batsman Kane.
"They have a lot of good players and we see them all as threats. They are good players at home in their conditions, against whom we have to be at our very best," he added
Ahead of grueling month long action, Kiwis' biggest headache will be the form of swashbuckling opener Martin Guptill, who recently scored 7, 8 and 0 from the Test series defeat in South Africa.
But Williamson, who is part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise in the Indian Premier league (IPl), is unfazed with the recent slump, and backed the 29-year-old as a world class cricketer.
"Martin (Guptil) has been working very hard. We know that he is a world class cricketer and he has shown that a lot in the white ball format and certainly we are backing him to do well with the red ball," he said.
After the three-day warm-up match against Mumbai, New Zealand will then play three Tests starting from 22nd September in Kanpur, followed by Kolkata and Indore, and five ODIs in Dharamsala, Delhi, Mohali, Ranchi and Visakhapatnam, which will conclude on 29th October.